THE FAILED CENTRISM OF THE GREEN PARTY

James Shaw : Failing to capture the public imagination.

The new Reid Research poll shows the Green Party languishing at 3.8 percent and in real danger of being wiped out at the 2020 election. Chalk down its failure to its cautiously centrist politics and policies.

THE NEW REID Research poll should be causing concern among the eight Green Party MP's because they are all looking at being turfed out of Parliament come the 2020 election. The poll, commissioned by Business NZ and intended to gauge public support for a capital gains tax, also shows that the support for the minor parties has effectively collapsed with the Green Party languishing on 3.9 percent. New Zealand First have slumped to 2.3 percent.

The Green's cannot comfort themselves with thoughts that this is a 'rogue poll' and that everything will be 'alright on the night'. The reality is that the Green's have been flirting dangerously around the 5 percent parliamentary qualification mark for some time now. The Green's only real idea on how to get out of the corner they have boxed themselves into has been to agitate to have the threshold dropped to four percent for the 2020 election and which the Government has ruled out because it has judged, correctly, that it would look too much like a cynical attempt at self-preservation by the Green's.

It shouldn't be this way. With a well-resourced platform in Parliament the Green's have had the opportunity to campaign on what is the most crucial issue of our times - climate change.

But when the people are increasingly demanding real solutions from our politicians the Green's have failed to provide any. When the 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has starkly warned us that we have no more than twelve years to effectively tackle climate change before its too late, the Green's continue to act as if its not a full blown crisis but  merely a blip on the horizon that can be sorted with the appropriate mix of market-friendly polices. The absurdity, rather more cruel than humourous, is that the Green Party thinks that the very economic system that is eating up the planet can also be employed to provide the remedy.

The Green's denial of the crisis is underlined by their complacency. When some of its MP's aren't embroiled in self-defeating arguments revolving around 'identity politics', their 'solution' to climate change is carbon neutrality by 2050. Climate change, as Naomi Klein has observed, represents a huge challenge to centrist political parties like the Green's. It remains a challenge that they are failing to rise to.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez : Proposing a Green New Deal for America.

In the United States the Green New Deal, first presented by socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has offered the country a real alternative of a radical, government and community directed plan to transition the United States to a socially just society with a zero-carbon economy. It is a plan that has captured the public imagination. Thinking bold is not only just what is needed if the world is get serious about climate change, it is also electorally popular.

But, unfortunately, New Zealand doesn't have its own Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Instead we have James Shaw. And Marama Davidson. They are loathe to confront corporate interests and prefer the softly-softly approach, dressing up climate action in the language of economic policy and market mechanisms in line with the approach of the Labour-led government.

That this market-friendly approach is failing to excite the electorate is amply demonstrated in the Green's abysmal poll results. Its a problem that the Green's show no indication that they can overcome given that  they do not accept that not only urgent action is required to tackle climate change but it also requires changing the economy in almost every conceivable way.

New Zealand needs its own Green New Deal but its not one that the Green Party are willing to provide. The consequences are stark. The conservatism and timidity of the Green Party has been judged by the public and found wanting and they now face being annihilated at the 2020 general election.