Echoing US President Barack Obama's so-called 'New Deal', the Green Party have called for a 'Green New Deal'.
But rather than being a 'New Deal', this is just the 'Same old Deal' with a few add-ons. It does not provide an alternative economic direction and it confirms - yet again - that the Green's 'radicalism' is all style and no substance.
The Green's have not rejected neoliberalism but are rather calling for some 'Keynesian lite' policies to tide the 'free market'over a 'rough patch'.
It includes a call for investment in home insulation, public transport and the building of some 6000 state houses. And it support's John Key's cycleway project.
According to Jeanette Fitzmaurice these policies will create a 'stronger' market economy. Given that the 'market economy' has completely failed, Fitzmaurice's comments have no credibility whatsoever.
Despite focusing on 'environmental problems' the Green Party approach implicitly accepts that only market mechanisms can solve these problems - what co-leader Russel Norman refers to as 'the power of the market'.
The Green Party, as its 'New Deal' clearly shows, may want to tinker with the market, but the basic neoliberal paradign remains unchanged.
Like their German counterpart, the Green's have become just another pro-capitalist party.
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