Oct 13 upd blog

PoliticsOctober 13, 2020

Election Live, October 13: Jacindamania at Victoria Uni; one new case of Covid-19

The Bulletin editor
Oct 13 upd blog

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for October 13, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz

7.20pm: The day in sum

There was one new case of Covid-19 at the border.

Chris Baillie, the number four candidate on Act’s list – making him all but guaranteed entry into parliament this election – is an active and vocal climate change denier, The Spinoff reported.

Labour finally released its long-awaited policy manifesto, laying out its plans for New Zealand should it be re-elected.

Almost half the total number of people who voted in the 2017 election have already voted, according to the latest advance voting numbers.

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern pulled a big crowd for a speech at Victoria University in Wellington.

Media outlets sought to appeal a court decision preventing them from reporting the names of two people charged over donations to the New Zealand First Foundation.

6.25pm: José Barbosa ranks the party ads of the 2020 election

Which party included the most basketball puns? Which leader stared longest without blinking? And which party wins on the basis of good manners alone? All is revealed below.

5.15pm: Whither Kiwibuild? Act attacks Labour’s missing policy

It was the flagship policy of Labour’s 2017 election campaign, but three years later the troubled Kiwibuild scheme has been quietly dropped from Labour’s election manifesto. While a link in the housing section of the manifesto directs to a web page that mentions Kiwibuild, there is no explicit mention of the under-performing housing programme in any of the document’s 29 pages.

The disappearance has not escaped the notice of Act leader David Seymour. “Just four days out from the election, Labour has finally released its policy manifesto. After saying it would persevere with KiwiBuild, it fails to mention the programme once. This is the ultimate proof that policies for Jacinda Ardern are just marketing tools, or props on the stage of her political theatre,” he said.

“Last election, Labour promised 16,000 houses over three years. It’s delivered just 602. That’s not even four percent of what they promised. It’s simply pathetic… This is one of the worst public policy failures New Zealand has seen. It’s no wonder Labour wants to erase all reference to it.”

A Labour spokesperson said the Kiwibuild policy has not been dropped, noting that Ardern continues to talk about it on the stump.

3.30pm: Labour drops long-awaited manifesto

Just four days out from election day, Labour has released its long-awaited policy manifesto, laying out its plans for New Zealand should it be re-elected.

Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 dominates the 30-page document, topping the list of policy announcements.

“Together we have set ourselves up for a strong recovery. A recovery that keeps New Zealand safe and drives our economy. That will continue to be the top priority for Labour in government,” the document reads.

The manifesto is laden with smiling pictures of Jacinda Ardern alongside members of the public and fellow MPs, along with one shot that appears to mainly consist of political reporter Audrey Young’s hair.

After Ardern, Audrey Young’s hair is one of the most prominent features of the manifesto (Image : Labour)

On The Spinoff: Future Act MP held ‘climate hysteria skeptics’ meetings at high school

A bit of selfless self-promotion – an article of mine published this morning.

Here’s an excerpt:

A Nelson-based candidate for the Act Party, who’s all but certain to be in parliament after the election, rallied against the local council for its position on “so-called ‘climate change’”, convened “Climate Hysteria Skeptics” meetings at the high school where he teaches, and attacked activist Greta Thunberg as “a Swedish girl with Aspergers and well known mental health issues”.

Chris Baillie is number four on Act’s list and standing for the party in the Nelson electorate. His online bio says he has a strong interest in sport and music, is a former policeman and a full-time secondary school teacher. David Seymour is quoted as saying Baillie would bring common sense to parliament.

But former students who attended Nayland College, the school Baillie teaches at, have spoken out about meetings he used to run where he would, they said, push back against the scientific consensus on climate change and claim climate hysteria was contributing to New Zealand’s youth suicide rate.

Read the full piece here. And, if you know more, get in touch: stewart@thespinoff.co.nz

2.40pm: Media outlets appeal NZ First Foundation name suppression

Media outlets are seeking to appeal a court decision stopping reporting of the names of two people charged over donations to the New Zealand First Foundation.

The Serious Fraud Office charged the pair – not MPs or current members of the New Zealand First party – with obtaining by deception.

Last week, RNZ, Stuff, NZME and TVNZ challenged an interim name suppression order protecting the identities of the accused in the case. As RNZ reports, Judge Peter Winter ruled in favour of the defendants, keeping their names a secret.

In his decision, he said the publication of one of the defendant’s names would result in them being “unfairly vilified” in the minds of potential jurors at any criminal trial.

Both accused were allowed to keep name suppression until their first official court appearance on October 29 – 12 days after the general election.

However, media lawyer Robert Stewart has argued there is compelling public interest to learn the names of the pair before this date, filing an urgent notice of appeal to the High Court.

It’s expected that appeal will be heard tomorrow, in an attempt to have the details of the accused duo released before polling day.

2.00pm: Advance voting numbers top 2017 with four days to go

Almost half of the number of total people who voted in the 2017 election have already voted, according to the latest advance voting numbers.

The Electoral Commission’s reporting that just shy of 1.3 million people have headed to the polls since early voting opened. Last election, 2.63 million people cast a vote overall.

The latest figures show that more advance votes have already been cast than the entire early voting period from 2017. About 1.24 million people cast an advance vote in 2017, and a mere 717,000 in 2014, compared to 1.28 who had voted as of yesterday.

(Image : Electoral Commission)

All the latest data is available here.

1.35pm: Battle for Auckland Central still heating up

Auckland Central is looking to be one of the toughest electorate races this election – and it shows no signs of slowing down before Saturday.

Labour’s Helen White is pulling out all the stops to win the seat from National, including recruiting her siblings to hand deliver flyers.

A flyer from Helen White (Image : Supplied)

The flyer war isn’t a one sided battle, though. Green candidate Chloe Swarbrick has also been pulling in support to help put pen to paper.

Meanwhile, on The Spinoff right this very moment, you can read an excellent piece by our political editor Justin Giovannetti explaining how the battle for Auckland Central could be splitting the left vote. Check that out here.

1.15pm: Jacinda-mania in action – huge crowds at Vic Uni

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern is continuing to pull massive crowds in the final days before polls close.

Ardern is speaking at Victoria University in Wellington, after earlier meeting locals at Queensgate shopping centre in Lower Hutt.

The Spinoff’s political editor Justin Giovannetti is on the campaign trail with Ardern today and sent through this photo, showing the Labour leader surrounded by a sea of supporters.

Massive crowds listening to Jacinda Ardern speak (Photo : Justin Giovannetti)

The crowds aren’t entirely surprising – every Labour social media account was promoting Ardern’s visit, advertising the chance to meet her.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQXZbSgqGz/?igshid=uzluiu249omf

Before Ardern took to the stage, Green Party co-leader James Shaw worked the floor as some sort of opening act.

Ardern’s busy schedule of public speeches and walkabouts is in stark contrast to Judith Collins. The National leader has also been in the lower North Island today, campaigning with her local candidates Chris Bishop and Brett Hudson. No walkabouts are on the schedule, however, after a disastrous day in Ponsonby last week.

1.00pm: One new imported case of Covid-19

There’s one new imported case of Covid-19 today, the Ministry of Health has announced. The new case is an arrival from the United States, who landed in the country on October 8.

The person tested positive on day three of their stay in managed isolation in Christchurch. They are now in quarantine.

The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is now 1,516. There are 39 active cases, all imported, with no active community cases of Covid-19.

Yesterday our laboratories processed 3,017 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,005,807.

On The Spinoff: Policy in two minutes

Having a hard time deciding who to vote for in this week’s election? The Spinoff’s done some of the work for you.

We’ve gone through the parties policy pledges, compiling them into easy wraps based on topics like transport, health and Te ao Māori. Read them all here and check out everything else you need to know at Policy.nz.

Happy voting!

12.00pm: Will Election 2020 ever end?

It’s been a very long election campaign, but it finally looks like we’re in the home stretch.

But has it come too late? The never-ending months of political turmoil and Covid-19 have taken their toll on all of us – including Mike Hosking.

11.40am: Peters rejects polls, speaks of Labour-Greens ‘nightmare’

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has continued to discredit the polls suggesting his party will be out of parliament after the next election. Recent polling has placed the party at about the 2% mark – well short of the required 5%.

“I have been to Warsaw. It is the capital of Poland. That’s where Poles live. That’s all I do when I talk about polls. All the rest is just ridiculous,” he told Newshub this morning.

“Can we get on with it rather than wasting our time with what I might call witchcraft that seems to accompany modern politics. It is of no value to anyone.”

Peters continued to advertise his party as an insurance policy on a government consisting of just Labour and the Greens. He said people have been telling him they’ve done the mathematics, and there’s no way that National and Act can make it.

“So we better get back and buy ourselves some guaranteed influence in the next government because we don’t want a Green and Labour nightmare… with a massive lurch to the left,” Peters said.

Peters said his party has a proven track record in government, citing the provincial growth fund as well as portfolios like foreign affairs.

Watch the full interview here

On the campaign trail

Here’s where our political leaders are today:

  • Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern is campaigning in the capital today, with a walkabout at Queensgate shopping centre in Lower Hutt, and, later, a speech at Victoria University.
  • National Party leader Judith Collins is in Ōhāriu and Ōtaki today, for a transport announcement and later a public meeting.
  • New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is in Tauranga today for a public meeting near Mount Maunganui, followed by a media stand-up and public walkabout.
  • Act Party leader David Seymour is campaigning in Matamata, Cambridge and Hamilton today, including some walkabouts and a public meeting.
  • Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is in Ōtara and Papatoetoe, and later attending the launch of the Green Library in Auckland.

Also today:

  • We’ll have the latest Covid-19 data at 1pm, as per usual, followed by advance voting figures at 2pm.

9.50am: More women running for parliament than last election

The number of women running for parliament in this year’s election is well above 2017, according to new data released today.

This Saturday’s election has 73 more women running than in the last – however the number of men overall is still much higher. There are 413 male candidates compared to 263 female, and one gender diverse/not specified.

Of the top eight parties, there are 136 women out of 379 candidates.

There are 677 candidates running in this years election across all parties.

8.00am: UK to introduce a new Covid-19 alert system

While New Zealand may be enjoying a string of community transmission-free days of Covid-19, here’s a timely reminder that the rest of the world is still fighting a pandemic.

The UK is set to bring in a tiered system of further restrictions to curb further acceleration in Covid-19 cases. The new system is an attempt to fix the UK government’s confusing patchwork of rules around the coronavirus.

As RNZ reports, the new lockdown rules will include shutting pubs and bars in areas placed in the “very high” alert level from Wednesday. The other alert levels in the new system are “medium” and “high”.

7.45am: Advance voting numbers to surge past last election’s

More people cast a vote on Saturday than on the day before the 2017 election, according to the Electoral Commission’s advance voting data.

Figures show 253,616 people headed to the polls on Saturday, just a nudge ahead of the 253,473 who voted in the 24 hours before the last election.

And the Commission’s now expecting that advance voting to surpass its target, with the Chief Electoral Officer telling Newshub it’s been going like “gangbusters”.

Alicia Wright said: “We have had a lot more polling places this election. It has been increasing in popularity. In 2017, we had nearly half of people vote in advance. We are seeing that increase this time as well and I suspect we will beat our advance voting numbers full stop by today or tomorrow.”

As of yesterday, more than 1.15 million people had already cast their ballot, just short of the total number of early votes in 2017 –1.24 million.

7.30am: Top stories from The Bulletin

The first Covid-19 vaccine purchase agreement has been made by the government. Radio NZ reports the agreement is for 1.5 million doses, which would theoretically cover half that number of people, and could be ready to roll out early next year – though that’s the most optimistic date. These particular vaccines come from Pfizer, though there are others currently in the works. The purchase is subject to clinical trials taking place successfully, and passing regulatory approval.

For more on the science behind this all, I’d highly encourage you to read this from the NZ Herald’s Jamie Morton. It goes into the different vaccine candidates which are currently being developed, and what other countries are doing. It also discusses how the vaccines actually work, and how different varieties act on the body in different ways. You might also enjoy going back and reading Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris on this topic several months ago.

The prospect of a vaccine has been quite a major talking point over the course of the election campaign. Politicians have routinely been asked to comment on when they believe a vaccine might be available, and what that means for their wider projections and assumptions. That’s because there are huge economic implications to a vaccine being available and widely taken up. A widely vaccinated population creates herd immunity against viruses (see also – measles vaccination rates dropping before the outbreak last year) which gives a much greater potential for avoiding lockdowns, and reopening the border.

Read more and subscribe to The Bulletin here

7.00am: Yesterday’s headlines

There were no new cases of Covid-19. There have been no active cases in the community since last week.

An agreement to purchase 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccines was signed by the government.

A new border exception to allow 250 international PhD and postgraduate students into the country to continue their studies was announced by the government.

National has promised a PhD scholarship scheme worth up to $10 million for international candidates studying STEM subjects.

More Reading

The Green Party has hit back at claims by Labour that a wealth tax is off the table if the two parties form a coalition after this weekend’s election.

More than a million votes have already been cast five days out from election day, according to the Electoral Commission.

Read yesterday’s Election Live here

Keep going!
helen white chloe swarbrick auckland
helen white chloe swarbrick auckland

PoliticsOctober 13, 2020

The battle for central Auckland is splitting the left

Contributing writer
helen white chloe swarbrick auckland
helen white chloe swarbrick auckland

Labour has its eyes set on taking the Auckland Central seat from National, but Green supporters are anxious their party won’t make parliament without the safety of an electorate win. Justin Giovannetti investigates the division.

Auckland Central is an electorate of contrasts.

The central neighbourhoods of Auckland represent one of the most expensive collections of homes in the world, while also hosting New Zealand’s most pervasive homelessness. It’s the headquarters to the country’s business class, but most locals are renters. It’s the electorate with the fewest number of children and retirees. The voter pool is largely millennial and split between low-wage service jobs and professionals.

The electorate’s politics lean left, but it has twice rejected Jacinda Ardern as a local MP in favour of National’s candidate. The left’s vote this year is dominant. It is also thoroughly divided.

Labour’s Helen White is at the top of the polls in what could be a three-way race. In 2017 she came a close second to the popular Nikki Kaye, only 1,500 votes behind the liberal National MP who took the seat from Labour in 2008. A frustrated frontrunner, White is pitching to the pragmatic centre-left. She wants to make the seat red again, but has faced repeated calls from activists and columnists to stand down and clear the way for the Greens. That’s not going to happen, she told The Spinoff.

Chlöe Swarbrick, the high-profile Green MP, is mounting one of her party’s rare two-tick campaigns in Auckland Central. Polls have put her in third place, but Swarbrick is seeking the electorate’s more left-wing vote with the promise of bolder action on housing and wealth disparity. In an interview she criticised her Labour opponent as “centre-left”, unwilling to tax the rich and comfortable.

Then there’s National and Emma Mellow. A late addition, after Kaye suddenly quit in the wake of her party’s leadership upheavals, Mellow has Kaye’s liberal leanings, but is appealing to employers and homeowners. She told Newshub Nation that jobs are her first concern and she wants to be the voice for business in parliament. Her best hope, however, is to slip through the middle of a warring White and Swarbrick.

Emma Mellow, right, walks Ponsonby Road with Judith Collins and Melissa Lee and Emma Mellow (Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

‘What do you want?’

One of the atypical aspects of the Auckland race is that the frontrunner has a lower profile than the candidate polling in third place. White knows that and it’s a source of some annoyance. Speaking with The Spinoff at her office in downtown Auckland, she recalls a recent Radio New Zealand story about the electorate that focused heavily on Swarbrick.

It’s the middle of the campaign and she’s at her office because she needs to work. A barrister, she’s billed for $0 in September. She works for herself, she’s not a partner in an international firm, and the six unions she represents still need her to put in some hours.

A lot of people don’t quite know who she is. White said she feels as though people have looked at her resumé and have judged her harshly. Yes, she lost in 2017, but she came closer than expected. Yes, she’s a lawyer, but she represents workers and whistleblowers. She charges on a sliding scale, people only pay what they can afford. Yes, she does own a home, but her mortgage is “monstrous” for her salary.

“Yes, I’m a lawyer. I can’t always be ‘the’ candidate. I’m not a list MP,” she said, in muted criticism of list MPs like Swarbrick who can spend a lot of their free time between elections campaigning. “It’s true, I’m not particularly fond of social media, but I’m 52, I’m a lawyer and I’ve got stuff to offer. Really, what do you want? The other day there was a story on Radio New Zealand heavily focused on Chlöe. We’re at the point where people need to really understand that I’m the person who can win this for the left and it would be terrible to lose that.”

“It’s been frustrating,” she adds. “You can’t be everything to everyone.”

Helen White visits inMusic in Auckland with Jacinda Ardern in September (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The left battles, the race grows closer

Last Sunday, a Colmar Brunton poll in Auckland Central showed a tightening race. White was ahead at 35%, with Mellow at 30% and Swarbrick at 26%. Only 9% said they were undecided. White is trailing her party, with 47% planning to cast a party vote for Labour. Mellow and Swarbrick are ahead of their teams, with the Greens expected to receive only 13% of the party vote in the electorate.

To White, the tight race is a sign that voters need to rally for Labour. She’s worried National will find a way to sneak up the middle. Swarbrick argues the opposite: with the progressive parties expected to receive 61% of the vote, she said there’s no middle National could sneak through.

Both sides have doubled down on the campaign trail. If you live in Auckland Central and haven’t seen your candidates in debate, that’s a choice you’ve made. The candidates have engaged in numerous debates. Neither White nor Swarbrick can recall exactly how many, but it’s a lot. They’ve grown accustomed to each other’s answers and thoughts. There’s not much more to learn.

The two grapple over the wealth tax and housing when they meet at the Ponsonby community centre in late September. Mellow doesn’t attend as it isn’t officially an Auckland Central debate. White is measured and enunciates clearly. She’s been an employment lawyer for 27 years and knows how to deliver a case. Swarbrick has an arsenal of passion. It’s a polite and policy-focused version of the wars playing out online between the area’s Labour and Green supporters.

New Zealand has largely avoided the splintering of progressive parties seen in recent years across the English-speaking world. In the United States, business-friendly Democrats have ceded ground to an openly socialist and increasingly vocal wing of the party. British Labour is still grappling with the legacy of former leader Jeremy Corbyn. In Canada, the New Democrats face the question of whether to focus on social justice or the traditional union base.

That fragmentation hasn’t happened in New Zealand partly due to the dominant popularity of Jacinda Ardern, as well as MMP. Labour’s hard-left activists are, in many cases, likely to be in the Green Party. One of the only places that debate has played out in New Zealand this election is in Auckland Central.

The politicians and thinkers White and Swarbrick reference in conversations are revealing of the progressive schism.

Swarbrick calls on US Democrat Bernie Sanders to defend her party’s wealth tax; he’s at that party’s left-most fringe. Labour’s Michael Joseph Savage is her example of taxes put to good use.

White looks to US Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a progressive character whose politics are closer to the centre but well to the left of presidential candidate Joe Biden. She also reads a lot of Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winning economist critical of globalism and growing inequality.

The two candidates largely want the same things – liveable wages and affordable housing – but have very different ways to get there.

The pragmatic progressive

As she gets increasingly relaxed during an interview, White gets more animated and passionate. While the attribute of “passion” is more often associated with Swarbrick, all three of the major candidates have something that lights them up. Swarbrick’s at the Ponsonby debate was clearly cannabis reform. White’s is employment law.

As a lawyer she has stood up to large companies. Fonterra has lost to her in court several times. She also helped scupper a plan by Air New Zealand to contract out all its heavy maintenance work to China, something that would have led to the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Few people have spent much time thinking of restraint of trade clauses in employment agreements. White has and it’s one of those areas of law that she cares deeply about. Companies in New Zealand are increasingly inserting clauses into contracts that were once reserved for senior executives to stop them from moving to another company and taking trade secrets. Those clauses now sometimes appear in low-wage jobs as well, largely to restrict workers from quitting.

“Stiglitz talks about how those clauses widen the gap between rich and poor. I know that. I had someone in here the other day who earns $20 an hour and has a six-month restraint. That person is afraid to work for themselves, unless they want to take a six-month holiday where they don’t work at all,” she said.

She’s seen an increasing number of contracts now stipulate you can’t hire someone from your company if you leave. “So your mate could make $5 an hour more if they go work for you, but they can’t. What are they getting out of that deal? It’s pushing down wages, and you might not see that if you’re part of a union or have the same employer, but I see it. I see it all the time,” she adds.

If elected, she’ll have a bill ready for the biscuit tin of private members’ causes. She wants to contain the trade clauses before they get out of control. It’s a small thing, but for some of the young professionals in Auckland Central, it could become a major life hurdle in the next few years.

Candidates at an Auckland Central debate at Freemans Bay Primary School, including Chloe Swarbrick third from left and Helen White third from right (Photo: Josie Adams)

Taking out government insurance

One of the arguments for a Swarbrick vote in Auckland Central is a safety net for the party as a whole. They’re currently hovering around 6%, just above the cut-off to get into parliament. Making matters worse, the Greens have consistently turned in a slightly worse performance on election night than the polls would suggest. It could be a close shave. A win in Auckland Central would mean bringing a group of MPs to parliament even if they fall under the 5% threshold.

There have been suggestions that Labour should have surrendered the seat to the Greens as an insurance policy. That could be done either through a wink, like in neighbouring Epsom where National supporters vote Act, or by White dropping out of the race.

There’s one problem with those suggestions. The Greens said they haven’t asked for a deal and Labour said it hasn’t offered.

It’s obviously a source of frustration for White. As she sees it, the suggestion is she isn’t up to the challenge. “Jacinda has been clear that a tactical vote in Auckland Central is a vote for me,” she said.

“There’s been a lot of chatter on Twitter,” she adds. “People are trying to stare Jacinda down for a deal. There’s never been a deal with Auckland Central. She has repeatedly said that. She’s been totally clear, she’s never sent any other signal, but some people would really like her to.”

Like who?

“Simon Wilson has repeatedly said things about me. I’ve never met the man. I’d quite like to,” she said, her words heavy like the stick she’d like to bludgeon him with. “There’s been a little bit of character assassination going on. That I’m lacklustre. That I didn’t do well last time, that doesn’t bear fruit.”

Wilson, a senior writer at the NZ Herald and formerly of The Spinoff, was asked about the allegation of character assassination. He said he hasn’t tried to personalise his analysis of the race. His columns haven’t been about White, but that centre-left voters should keep the Greens in parliament and vote for Swarbrick to ensure Labour has a partner after election day.

White rejects the suggestion. “The Greens are at 7% and they have a good base vote. It’s always been that way. This isn’t even the electorate where they traditionally have the highest party vote,” she said. She spoke before the latest poll showed Green support dropping to 6%.

The Greens’ best showing for the party vote in 2017 was in Wellington Central, where they won just over 21%. However, the electorate results were far grimmer. Green co-leader James Shaw finished third with 15%, far behind Labour’s Grant Robertson. The man who would become finance minister and Labour’s de facto deputy leader was a few hundred ballots shy of winning an outright majority.

Most voters double tick, as high as 70% according to some research. As White sees it, that makes the Greens’ mission in Auckland Central close to mathematically impossible.

Chlöe Swarbrick on the campaign trail (Photo: Supplied)

Labour red with a dash of green

The Greens say they never wanted a deal with Labour, dashing the hopes of people who want a green Auckland Central as an insurance policy.

“If we’re going to win this, we’re going to win it the old-fashioned way,” said Swarbrick. She admits that Labour needs the Greens, but this local race is disconnected from the national conversation, she adds.

“This seat isn’t going to change the balance of power,” she said. What if the Greens fall under the party vote threshold? “Yes, it could if we don’t hit 5%. But we’re focused on hitting that. This has never been any form of back-up.”

Her race in Auckland Central isn’t about getting the Greens into parliament, it’s about representing local issues and bringing a more progressive and green shade to a future Labour government, according to Swarbrick. This echoes a recent conversation The Spinoff had with the Green co-leaders, who said their campaign is partly focused on promising New Zealanders that they’ll empower Ardern to be more progressive.

“If people want climate change to be the nuclear-free movement. If people want house prices to go down, if people want to address poverty, if they want to address welfare inequality… the Greens are the only party who puts that stuff constantly on the agenda and fights for it,” she said. In their Ponsonby debate, both White and Swarbrick said they wanted house prices to come down.

Swarbrick is interrupted several times while sitting outside of a wine bar on Ponsonby Road. Young locals want to thank her. A few days later, National leader Judith Collins would run into opposition while campaigning on the same stretch of road. The support for the Greens isn’t universal, said Swarbrick – a number of local supporters were ordered to take down signs by landlords and neighbouring businesses.

Foreshadowing what a possible coalition debate behind closed doors could look like in a few weeks, Swarbrick said she’s been exasperated by the conversation about taxes this campaign. The Greens’ proposed wealth tax has been attacked or ignored by every other party. Labour has promised increased income taxes on the very wealthiest New Zealanders, while National and Act have promised to lower taxes. Neither of the major parties want to tax capital gains or real estate assets.

“Can politicians get real for once? Seriously? Everybody, every time, asks how do we get the young people engaged? We get them engaged by stopping bullshitting them,” said Swarbrick between sips of beer.

“People can see through the way that politicians project this veneer of professionalism and talk in this loaded terminology and dog whistles to certain demographics. To talk about child poverty, the climate crisis or wealth inequality is all meaningless if you’re not backing it up with actual solutions,” another sip. A young woman on the street stops and smiles at her.

“I said that at a debate a few weeks ago. Helen and Emma said, ‘You can’t say that we don’t care about those things.’ You can care about those things, but there’s massive cognitive dissonance if you don’t actually want to address them. You can’t grow your way out of those problems.”

Her solution: it’s time to have a mature conversation about taxes and stop tinkering in the margins. If the Greens enter coalition talks with Labour next week, she said, far from compromising their core values, they’ll be bringing in the spirit of Michael Joseph Savage with them.

Politics