We on the middle and the right side of politics have been so busy being upset at the National Party for focussing on compromise instead of standing strong against the Zero Carbon Bill, that we have totally missed the delicious silver lining in it all.
All is not well in Green Party circles as their gaining cross-party consensus on their bill has been criticised as a bad thing by those who believe that the Green Party have wasted their power. Apparently, the Green Party should have pulled on their Jack Boots and trampled over all dissent while claiming that it was their way or the highway!
While some commentators like David Cormack have praised the Zero Carbon Bill as being good for business because it gives business owners “certainty,” Greenpeace, on the other hand, have been scathing saying that the legislation had no substance and “Nothing but vague promises to maybe do something about dairy pollution in two to five years’ time.” They suggested that the Green Party has “joined the consensus on inaction.”
Hilariously Greenpeace is unhappy about the Zero Carbon Bill because it hasn’t upset industry. In their extremist worldview, the Zero Carbon Bill should hurt industry otherwise it is “meaningless” one of their spokespersons said, “One of the tell-tales of the hollowness of the Zero Carbon Act is that the polluting industries are not crying foul. The reason is, the law barely touches them.”
Matthew Hooton also sees the bill as a negative for the Green Party saying that because they achieved multi-party consensus, “those who worry about climate change now have no more reason to vote for the Greens.”
“Come election time, Shaw and Ardern may wax lyrical about the new legislation and the Climate Change Commission it sets up, but Simon Bridges and Winston Peters will both be able to say, ‘yep, that’s my policy too’ and move on to immigration, infrastructure, housing or the economy.” Meanwhile, the Greens are likely to bleed more activists.
The other silver lining from my point of view is that by alienating the rural sector by supporting this Bill, Simon Bridges has made it crystal clear that under his leadership National is headed in new Urban, liberal direction.
National and the Greens now have something in common. They both chose consensus and compromise rather than taking a strong stance and now both are going to bleed support because of it.
