'No vision, no courage, no moral compass': James Shaw takes aim at National and ACT at campaign launch
The Green Party focussed on poverty and climate action at its election campaign launch in Wellington on Sunday, pledging to guarantee everyone a warm home, in a pitch which appeared to be angled towards would-be voters and those disillusioned with Labour. Party co-leader James Shaw also took aim at rhetoric around crime, in light of the Auckland shooting on Thursday, where a long gunman on home detention for domestic violence offences killed two people, and shot others including a police officer, at a downtown construction site. Our political leaders owe us a conversation based on evidence. I say that, because the fear and anxiety National and ACT have filled our headlines and social media feeds with, over the last 12 months, appals me, he said. They are using fear as a motivator because they have nothing else. No vision. No courage. No moral compass. They know that the knee-jerk, back of an envelope ideas they are putting forward work for nothing other than getting a tough looking headline. In a speech to about 200 of the party faithful, Shaw said he was proud of what his party had achieved over the past six years through its cooperation agreement with Labour. But he warned more votes for his party was the only solution against another term of small steps. We've always known that lasting change wouldn't come quickly or easily. It never does. But we simply cannot afford another term of small steps. Small steps dont get you very far, and they certainly dont end poverty or tackle climate change, he said. His comments on tax and housing got strong responses from the crowd at the Public Trust building, which had many young people in it. I want to welcome you to a campaign that refuses to stand by while tens of thousands of children go to bed hungry, in homes that are so damp and so cold they are making them sick, that will not accept a tax system that has been designed to favour the wealthiest few. So much so, that the richest few families pay less than half the effective tax of the average New Zealander, he said to applause. The cooperation agreement with labour gave him and co-leader Marama Davidson ministerial portfolios outside of Cabinet, and areas of cooperation on climate, environment and child and community wellbeing issues. Davidson said the campaign should not just be about two major political parties and who out of the two Chrises gets to be Prime Minister, a nod to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and National Party leader Chris Luxon. She said National and Labour have time and time again ... pursued power for their own sake rather than collective purpose. She specifically hit out at Labours direction on climate under Hipkins, and Nationals under Luxon. I think they have got something fundamentally wrong when only a few weeks before our communities were devastated by flooding, National was promising to reopen oil and gas drilling. Not only that, but just weeks after the flooding, the Labour Cabinet started chipping away at the climate plan a Green Party climate minister, James Shaw, put in place last year with no plan to make up the shortfall. Public polls suggest the Greens vote is consistently floating between the 7% to 10% range. The party earlier this month released its election manifesto , outlining its roadmap should it win Parliament in Octobers election. Much of the 42-page document carried on from well-traversed party campaigns, including calls for New Zealand to cease new oil exploration, stop mining conservation land, and ban alcohol advertising in sport and the arts.