Swarbrick rallies Green troops as Tana saga drags on

Comment: The Green Party has endured more than its fair share of tumultuous times over the years, but 2024 has a strong case to be its annus horribilis.
From Golriz Ghahraman’s resignation over shoplifting to claims of intimidatory behaviour by Julie Anne Genter, the tragic death of Faʻanānā Efeso Collins and co-leader Marama Davidson’s breast cancer diagnosis – not to mention ongoing questions regarding the fate of Green MP-turned-independent Darleen Tana – it has been a thoroughly difficult year for the party.
Yet there was little sign of despair or frustration on display at the Greens’ annual conference in Christchurch over the weekend, attendees repeatedly rising to their feet for standing ovations on Sunday as co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick gave her second speech in as many days.
Despite the drama, the Greens have held largely steady in opinion polling since last November’s election, with the coalition Government’s policies on climate change, mining and public housing playing to the party’s strengths as Labour licks its wounds after being turfed from office.
“Our caucus has continued to be relentlessly focused on people and planet, and punching well above our weight in Parliament to hold the Government to account on those things,” Swarbrick said when asked why she felt the party’s polling had remained resilient in spite of multiple crises.
The centrepiece of her Sunday speech to the party faithful was the announcement of an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, asking the Government to back renters’ rights through initiatives like a rental warrant of fitness, rent controls, and the abolition of no-cause evictions.
If writing an open letter to the Prime Minister feels more like the action of an NGO than a political party, it is nonetheless for a worthy cause, and designed to build up a pile of potential new Green recruits; “I want you to find 10 people you know to sign on to this open letter, and ask each of them to find 10 people of their own,” Swarbrick declared, a model not entirely dissimilar to multilevel marketing.
But Swarbrick’s more striking remarks came on Saturday, when she restated a previous goal of building the Greens into a party capable of leading – and not merely joining – a new government. 
“I believe the vast, sweeping majority of New Zealanders care for each other and the planet that we share … most people believe in the same things we do, why don’t we currently command the Treasury benches?”
Elaborating on her vision to media the next day, Swarbrick said the party wanted to reach the “missing million” – a near-mythical group of potential voters pursued by left-wing parties for a long time – by reaching out to migrant communities, underrepresented populations in South Auckland, and other disillusioned New Zealanders.
“We don’t want to just talk about them – we want to go and find them,” she said.
It’s a lofty goal – but there are more pressing priorities for the Greens in the short term, not least deciding what to do about Tana after the list MP resigned from the party following a long-running investigation into claims of migrant exploitation at a business owned by the list MP’s husband.
On Sunday morning, Swarbrick announced the party would hold a special general meeting on September 1 where Green delegates would discuss whether to use the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act – or waka-jumping law, as it is more commonly known – to expel Tana from Parliament.
Such a decision would be a big move for the party, which has previously been outspoken in its opposition to the legislation.
But Swarbrick sought to draw a distinction between the concern of former party greats like Rod Donald and Jeanette Fitzsimons over the use of the waka-jumping law to sack MPs who left parties on a point of principle, and the appalling allegations levelled against Tana and their husband by migrant workers.
With the investigation into Tana having cost the Greens upwards of $43,000, and the party potentially deprived of hundreds of thousands more in parliamentary funding across the rest of the term by having one fewer MP in the caucus, the incentive to move their former colleague out is clear.
Yet the decision to write to Tana, informing them the party believes their resignation from the Greens is distorting the proportionality of Parliament and giving them 21 days to respond – one of the technical requirements for the waka-jumping provisions – has already caused unrest within the party, even as Swarbrick pledged the caucus would not complete the process unless the party delegates gave their approval at the September 1 meeting.
Green Party member and former staffer Nicole Geluk-Le Gros described the decision on X (formerly Twitter) as “a complete abandonment of the literal foundational principles” of the party and “a dereliction of leadership”, while Waatea News reported several members of the party’s Pasifika group had resigned in protest over the treatment of Tana.
“The co-leaders have again inflamed and weaponised media narratives, intentionally smearing Darleen’s character, integrity and mana,” Pasifika Greens secretary Marie Laufiso said in a letter reportedly read to the party on Sunday.
The resignations are not solely about Tana – the letter also mentioned anger at the treatment of former Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere over allegations of bullying, as well as a failure to support the Pasifika wing after the death of Collins – but nonetheless raise the stakes even further ahead of the September meeting.
“Let me be really clear – this sucks. This is not a situation that I think any one of us or our party wanted to be confronted with, but we have been, so we’re dealing with that,” Swarbrick said on Sunday.
It has been a baptism by fire for the new co-leader, particularly with Davidson absent from Parliament as she undergoes medical treatment (although Swarbrick said the pair remained in near-daily contact, while Davidson had remained involved in the Tana issue including repeated attempts at outreach).
“People keep asking me what it’s like, and I can’t say that I’ve known anything other than the life that I’m living right now, to be honest with you,” Swarbrick said, highlighting the support of a caucus “doggedly focused on what really matters”.
Maintaining that focus will be critical if the party is to both make it out the other side of the Tana saga unscathed, and strive to meet Swarbrick’s ambitious goals for the future of the Greens.