Marama Davidson is going in to bat for her co-leader at this weekend’s annual conference after public scrutiny over whether he’s fit for the job
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says there have been no remits lodged to have a vote of no confidence, nor have any candidates put their names forward to contest the leadership at this weekend’s annual conference.
Two weeks ago, commentary surfaced on social media that some younger Green Party supporters wanted to table a vote of no confidence in co-leader James Shaw.
This was not the official position of the Young Greens, which consists of paying party members, but attracted media attention that Shaw was forced to respond to.
Criticism of Shaw isn’t new – at last year’s AGM he was challenged by Dunedin activist James Cockle, who won four delegate votes to Shaw’s 116.
Davidson told Newsroom Shaw gets more scrutiny and criticism because of his ministerial portfolio.
“The climate change portfolio is rightfully going to have incredible scrutiny from our members because we understand everything relates to the crises of climate change.
“If I, or any other MP or co-leader, have that ministerial portfolio it’s going to attract attention and an opportunity for some members to want to express themselves as we value that part of our internal democracy,’’ she said.
Every political leader has opposition from within the party at some point and Davidson says she isn’t spared it either. “I certainly see the odd comment where our members are not fully satisfied with my leadership, it’s always disappointing and heartbreaking because I’m a soft snowflake, but actually that’s just normal.’’
“I understand the power of influence in an opposition role, and we have also achieved things in that role but to say it’s far better, I don’t agree with that.’’ – Marama Davidson
But Davidson says it’s time those in the party who continually question Shaw’s commitment to the Green Party kaupapa realised how much he does.
“I do think we need to talk more about how much he works his ass off behind the scenes. It’s not something as MPs we organically want to talk about all the time, because we just want to do the work.
“I think we need to have better awareness and understanding of exactly how much grind is taking place in the climate action space.
“I probably need to keep remembering to remind our membership that we’ve never had any emissions reductions plan ever, we’ve never before seen such a large budget to actually fund an emissions reduction plan,’’ Davidson says.
While Shaw has the title and does the hard yards with negotiating, Davidson says the party collectively pushes together.
“It’s not just James doing this work … it’s actually on all of us and we accept that.
“I know he’s fighting hard out. He goes to bed with it every night, he wakes up with it.
“I know intimately exactly how much grind he gives, his blood and sweat, I’m in no two minds about that at all,’’ she said.
Getting more done on climate action ultimately comes down to having more bargaining power – something the Green Party is lacking when Labour holds a single-party majority government.
“We want more Green MPs, more influence at the Cabinet table - that’s the 2023 message we need to be clear on. We’re ready for that balance of power to do more," Davidson told Newsroom.
There is a group within the party that doesn’t believe there are benefits to being in a government arrangement, and that opposition is where the party can achieve more.
But Davidson told Newsroom that argument doesn’t stack up for her.
“I understand the power of influence in an opposition role, and we have also achieved things in that role but to say it’s far better, I don’t agree with that."
She pointed to her and Shaw’s ministerial achievements, but that the successes go beyond that in terms of caucus colleagues who have impacted and changed government legislation from outside of the executive.
Golriz Ghahraman’s work on electoral reform, Ricardo Menéndez March in the immigration portfolio and Jan Logie’s ACC progress were all areas where the Green Party has had wins while being part of the Government, Davidson said.
There are always opportunities for party delegates to make changes if they’re unhappy, but Davidson said the fact the co-leadership remains the same, and party polling is “defying political history’’ by holding up higher than the result on election night suggests the chatter on social media is just that.
“Yes, you have some loud voices who are always going to want to hold us to account on whether being in Government is worth it.
“That’s just part of ordinary, good, robust party democracy. Having them keep us on our toes, that’s a good thing,’’ Davidson said.
