A political pundit believes the Green Party needs to figure out what its identity is before this year’s election after MP Elizabeth Kerekere called Chlöe Swarbrick a “crybaby” in a group chat.
[…] It was sent as Swarbrick spoke in the House on her Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill. The Bill ultimately failed to pass its first reading.
“Sucks that her bill goes through during list ranking! Please Universe, pick my bill tomorrow,” Dr Kerekere reportedly said.
“Omg what a crybaby,” she then added.
She later acknowledged she “wrote an inappropriate message” and sent it to the wrong group chat. She denied calling Swarbrick a crybaby when contacted by RNZ. She’s not responded to Newshub.
Yeah right. Partially confess and deny, then go into hiding.
Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw say they are disappointed, the message appears to go against Green Party values, and are launching a full internal investigation.
[…] In his weekly interview with AM Early on Thursday, political commentator Bryce Edwards told the show even though the text message is “quite a small thing” it opens up a question about the Greens’ ideology.
“We’ve got people like Elizabeth Kerekere, she’s been very impressive, especially the way she’s jumped high into the list rankings of the Greens, but she wants to take the Greens in a very different direction to what we’ve traditionally seen from the Greens,” Edwards told AM Early host Michael O’Keefe.
Edwards suggests Dr Kerekere wants the Greens to focus less on the environment and more on ethnicity, gender and rainbow issues.
“I think that is the big question for the Greens at the moment. Do they want to go down that track or more on the James Shaw track of being around the environment,” Edwards said.
“That’s the split that’s kind of opening up at the moment.”
In other words there is a very real possibility that there could be a breakaway party forming; one focused on trans ‘rights’, Maori, gender, etc.
[…] “The green brand is incredibly strong and that’s why I think most people vote for them, but increasingly they’ve got activists, MPs that are more I think, focused on those different issues around the rainbow issues, ethnicity, decolonisation issues and I’m not sure that’s why 10 per cent of society wants to vote for the Greens,” he said.
Well, duh. The big question is who are all the Remuera housewives going to vote for now? If the Greens do split, they could vote for the Green party that’s focused on traditional issues. If not, then what? Jacinda’s gone, so she’s no longer an option.
“We will see if that’s the popular move, but they have lost their core sort of environmental branding if you like.”
Many of you may disagree, but Swarbrick is about the only MP in the Greens with any semblance of intelligence. Sure, she chose to be in the Greens, but, meh, wisdom comes with age.
Unlike many in the Greens, she also has a strong work ethic. Which is why I suspect she won her seat. Or at least one of the main reasons.
My hunch is the reason Kerekere picked on her is because she’s white. The fact that she is lesbian is neither here nor there. After all, women, lesbian or otherwise, are way down the Woke totem pole.
There is no doubt that Swarbrick is on track to be leader of the Greens. People like Kerekere need to remember that.