nz greens

[Bill Cochrane]

G'dday John
It means that the Labour/alliance govt don't  have an absolute majority at
the moment, due to the redistribution of seats  - this isn't as bigger
problem as it might seem as the greens where part of the alliance until
recently and will probably block with the Labour/Alliance govt on just about
anything, excepting some specific green issues (farmers are scared of the
greens and the govt is unlikely to support any major additional regulation
of agriculture outside of genetically modified foods) .
Nandor Tanczos is way cool on the tellie - young guy with dreadlocks and a
south pacific rasta attitude but to me the real interest value in the greens
is Sue Bradford. She must hold the world record for getting arrested on
demo's of which she has organized more than anyone else anywhere (last APEC
round for instance). Sue has probably been THE activist nemesis of the new
right here since the early eighties through her role in the unemployed
workers movement - the tories are privately spewing over this development as
are a number of union bureaucrats whom shall remain nameless, who she has
irritated over the years.
All of this could change as a number of legal challenges to results are
likely which particularly in the case of Tauranga, held by the NZ first
leader Winston Peters by 63 votes, could see a major redistribution of
seats. Naturally to if the tories win Coromandel in court the Greens will be
out again. Any redistribution will likely favour the govt so its largely a
question of whether or not the Labour/alliance will need the greens or not.
It has to be said that this election has been a fuck up of the first order
with slow counts and even a 100 ballot papers vanishing in an electorate
where the member has a majority of under seventy- the constitutional law
dudes can't fine a precedent here so are looking to the electoral law of
places like Bangladesh for guidance.
A real bright spot for me in all this is the election of Georgina Beyer, the
labour candidate in the predominately semi-rural Wairarapa, and first trans-
gendered MP in New Zealand. Prior to this she was a much admired mayor of a
supposedly redneck town. go Georgina


> From: jmage at panix.com
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 10:04:06 -0500
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: nz greens
> 
> Perhaps our resident NZ guru could explain what the NZGreens getting into
> Parliament on the absentee ballot count, with (apparently) the balance of
> power, might mean. Nandor Tanczos sounds hot (though our LM friends
> probably would not think so at all) See:
> http://www.smh.com.au/news/9912/09/world/world7.html
> 
> john mage
> 
> 
> 
>