It's Not Easy Being Green

DARCY LAWREY (HE/HIM)

OPINION: In what “may or may not'' be a commentary on our country’s two major parties, party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick lays out why she chose the Green Party. “I didn’t want to sit down, shut up and wait 10 years to have an opinion, by which point in time I might have conformed so much I didn’t know what my opinion was anymore”. Well Swarbrick is far from short of opinions. 

Her election as co-leader of the party in March this year will have been of little surprise to anyone paying attention. Regularly appearing on the preferred Prime Minister polls, even before her promotion to co-leader, her political career has been nothing short of impressive. 

But for Chlöe it’s never been about the position. “You don’t join the greens because you aspire to hold some particular title” she says. In her view, you join the Greens to make real change happen. 

It is sometimes easy to see the Greens as merely the eco-socialist arm of the Labour party—or at least a regular source of plagiarised policy—but Chlöe asserts that they “already lead the left of politics in this country.” When asked about the party’s future she says that the goal is for the numbers to start reflecting this, “such that we have the critical mass necessary to get radically transformational policies across.”

But in their quest for that critical mass the Greens have spent much of 2024 caught up in dealing with scandals, unruly MPs, and tragedy. As a result of a drawn-out investigation into claims of migrant exploitation, MP Darleen Tana has been ousted from the party, forcing the party to consider using the waka-jumping legislation they have been so opposed to. 

Then, of course, there’s Golriz Ghahraman’s shoplifting scandal, allegations of bullying against Julie-Ann Genter, and the tragic death of MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins. The stars have not exactly been in the Green’s favour.

Swarbrick chalks some of this bad luck up to a combination of the “very peculiar institution” that is Parliament, which she says, “forces people to go at each other’s throats”, and the mass of trauma and stress that is running through the party. 

It’s clear that being passionate about politics comes with a cost. She has conversations with her colleagues about quitting politics, including about leaving her own position, very regularly—it is a very common conversation to have with people”. 

“Over the last several years I have had conversations with people from every single political party that is currently represented in our parliament about mental distress” she reveals.

She says that finding a solution and improving the support offered to MPs is an “existential question for all political parties.”

The need for this existential look in the mirror is one which she says is especially important for the Greens as a result of their strong adherence to shared values. How we do parliamentary politics in New Zealand “is currently not geared to getting the best out of people”. 

But exploring a solution to this problem is something Swarbrick says she is committed to.

Note: the author is a member of the Green Party.