THE HYPOCRISY OF CHLOE SWARBRICK

In February Green Party co-leader James Shaw questioned whether the Labour-led Government would deserve to be re-elected if it didn't introduce a capital gains tax. This week, after the Government announced there would be no such tax, Shaw raised the white flag of surrender and   declared that the Green's would 'continue to work with Labour to make our tax system fairer'.  Meanwhile fellow Green MP Chloe Swarbrick, who has also never managed to oppose the policies of the government, is more than happy for other people to do the job that she should be doing. She has advised that folk should stand for local government if their not happy about the Government's failure to transform the economy.  She has also tried to associate herself with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Green New Deal, even though she and the Green Party continue  to peddle the fantasy of a 'green capitalism'. 

IN FEBRUARY Green co-leader James Shaw declared that a capital gains was virtually a bottom line for the Green Party. He even went as far as question whether the Labour-led government deserved to be re-elected if it failed to introduce such a tax.

But James Shaw and his fellow Green Party MP's aren't known for standing up to this Government and when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that not only was there going to be no capital gains but there never would be one while she was Prime Minister, James Shaw bid a hasty retreat.

'“We’ll continue to work with Labour to make our tax system fairer,” declared wimpy James in a press statement, raising the white flag of surrender.

But having consistently displayed little interest in opposing the policies of the Government, another Green MP felt she was entitled to advise other people what they could do if they were feeling a bit, well, pissed off. Chloe Swarbrick tweeted this week:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a socialist - Chloe Swarbrick isn't.

'If you’re angry/grumpy/dismayed about the inaction on transforming the economy, here’s an immediate place to channel it. Volunteer, campaign, stand and elect good, decent, thoughtful people to positions of power in #localgovernment. Elections in October, nominations open now.'

Yes folks, Chloe and her fellow Green MP's would rather cosy up to the Government instead of opposing its 'inaction on transforming the economy' but they are more than happy for other people to do the work that they should be doing in the first place.

But Chloe Swarbrick's hypocrisy apparently knows no depths. This week she tweeted a link to the video 'A Message from the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' (posted on this blog), which promotes a Green New Deal for the United States. The deal, if implemented, would spell the end of the 'crappy system that is destabilising the planet and hoarding vast wealth at the top' - in the words of writer and activist Naomi Klein.

But that's not what's been promoted by Chloe Swarbrick and the Green Party. It continues to peddle the fiction of a environmentally-friendly capitalism and has failed to campaign for anything like a Green New Deal for New Zealand. It continues to demonstrate zero interest in doing so because that would put it in direct conflict with the neoliberal policies of the Labour-led government. And we all know that the Green Party will never do that.