NZ Politics Daily - 22 September (liberation)

This could be the year of the Greens – finally they might crack the 10% mark that has eluded them in every general election so far. And with the popular demise of Labour and the ideological confusion of Mana, the Green Party might end up being the real success story for the leftish side of the political spectrum. Certainly John Armstrong thinks that the party is ‘crossing some kind of Rubicon’ with its emphasis on serious economic thinking – see: 'Green Wave' shows party is serious. He also notes that the party seems to have ditched its opposition to economic growth – but as with much about the Green Party, it’s a case of shifts of emphasis and smart presentational politics. If journalists really pushed the Greens on the question, they’d be likely to find that the Greens are still officially opposed to the very concept of ‘economic growth’ – which is a core doctrine of political environmentalism.

John Pagani also says the Greens have crossed some sort of Rubicon: ‘the party seems ready to get a bit dirty: more serious, less radical, more electable, more capable of compromise in pursuit of tangible gains’; Pagani celebrates the fact that the Greens’ ‘leaders have been responsible, reasonable and focused on issues that really matter’ – see: The Greens get it together. Along with all the praise, however is some stinging criticism – No Right Turn has an interesting critique of the Greens’ latest jobs announcement – see: The Green jobs initiative. While sympathetic to the policies involved, this blog post condemns the way it is sold: ‘deceitful and misleading’; ‘raising questions of the Greens' honesty and integrity’; ‘Deceit is not the green way, and if you use it to sell your policies, then people will start treating you as liars, just like all the rest’. David Farrar raises some similar issues in his Stuff blog post, Are the Greens becoming astroturfers?. Nonetheless, the Greens will be very happy just to be talked about. [Continue reading below for a full list of the highlights of NZ Politics Daily]

Below are the internet links to all the NZ politics material from the last 24 hours that are either informative, insightful, interesting or influential. This list and the links are taken from a fuller document, NZ Politics Daily, which is emailed out, Monday to Friday, to various researchers, academics, journalists, MPs and so forth. The document is purely for research purposes only, and if you would like to be on the subscription list, please email: [email protected]

Greens

John Armstrong (NZH): 'Green Wave' shows party is serious

Adam Bennett (NZH): Greens' plan lifts jobs, exports but costs $2.5b

Ian Llewellyn (electionresults): Greens Shine While The Economy Stagnates

John Pagani (Stuff): The Greens get it together

Felix Marwick (Newstalk ZB): Greens adamant policies will pay for themselves

NZN: Govt rubbishes Greens jobs plan

Mike Smith (The Standard): Kids, Rivers, Jobs

No Right Turn: The Green jobs initiative

David Farrar (Kiwiblog): The Greens jobs initiative

David Farrar (Stuff): Are the Greens becoming astroturfers?