Summarised by Centrist
Appearing on The Hui, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson called the coalition government a “pack of bastards”, accusing it of harming workers, women, disabled people, Māori, and the environment.
Davidson said the description was not harsh enough.
“There’s far stronger words. I’m being mild.”
Host Julian Wilcox later challenged Davidson over the fact that several coalition politicians shared Māori whakapapa, naming Winston Peters, Shane Jones, David Seymour and Nicole McKee.
Davidson rejected the suggestion that ancestry should soften her judgment.
“I don’t care if their representatives belong to my whakapapa or not. The focus here is their actions,” she said.
“This is why we’re hearing from workers, ‘We need to get the bastards out’, because of the damage they have done to working people.”
Pressed by Wilcox, Davidson pointed to the handling of pay equity claims, pressure on wages and incomes, the cost of living, environmental changes and what she called the “trampling over Te Tiriti”.
“The real-life damage that they have been doing to people, women, disabled people, Māori, the trampling over Te Tiriti, the absolute desecration of our taiao, our living systems,” she said.
Davidson was repeatedly asked whether the Greens’ wealth tax was a bottom line for entering a future government.
She would not say.
Instead, she said the voters would determine the bottom lines.
“The voters get to decide what the bottom lines are,” she said.
When Wilcox noted that Labour had ruled out a wealth tax and higher corporate taxes, Davidson again replied that voters, rather than politicians, would decide.
Editor’s note: Davidson may have accidentally made the case against the left’s racial politics.
The political left often treats its own positions on Te Tiriti and co-governance as synonymous with “Māori interests”. Māori who agree are presented as representative. Māori who disagree are accused of supporting an “anti-Tiriti” agenda or acting against their communities.
Davidson offered a better rule:
“I don’t care if their representatives belong to my whakapapa or not. The focus here is their actions.”
Many voters on the other side of politics would agree.
Identity does not settle a political argument. Māori are not a political bloc, and no party owns the right to define their interests.
Davidson is free to argue that Green policies serve Māori best. But she cannot reasonably claim that Māori who reach different conclusions are less representative, less authentic or acting against their own people.
Image: Naomi Madeiros
