Damien Grant: Green Party’s more interested in performative theatre than environmental issues

Damien Grant is an Auckland business owner and a regular opinion contributor for Stuff, writing from a libertarian perspective.

OPINION: In one of my many questionable parenting decisions, I read The Lord of the Flies to my then nine-year progeny. It seemed like a good idea, but I’d forgotten how dark the book is.

A group of boys become abandoned on an island and are forced to fend for themselves. The main protagonist is Ralph; a thoughtful, cautious and well-meaning lad who takes on the responsibility of leadership.

He soon finds his authority being challenged by Jack; a roustabout with no regard for the welfare of the cast and who becomes drunk with power. The book ends with Ralph running for his life as Jack leads the boys in a hunt to satiate their bloodlust. Evil is only thwarted by the arrival of adult authority.

I am unsure what the morality tale Sir William Golding was reaching for but the imagery is evocative and serves as a backdrop for this week’s column; the crisis that has befallen the Honourable James Shaw; MP.

Led by the MP for Auckland Central, the Greens have been very active recently in advocating their position on the conflict evolving in the Middle East.

This column isn’t about that; but in the interests of clarity, it is my belief that chanting “From the River to the Sea”, as a number of Green Parliamentarians have done, contains antisemitic undertones.

I am not alone in this view. Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the British Labour Party, takes a similar stance. Senior Labour MP Andy McDonald was suspended over this issue with his party stating: “The comments made by Andy McDonald at the weekend were deeply offensive, particularly at a time of rising antisemitism which has left Jewish people fearful for their safety.”

Now. Readers may, or may not, agree with this position, but if James Shaw wishes to get some clarity on Starmer’s perspective, he can ask him, as they are both attendees at the global climate jamboree, COP 28, being held in Dubai.

I mean; what better way to contemplate environmental concerns than bringing 84,000 people into a city built on petro-dollars that cannot function without round-the-clock air conditioning and migrant workers?

Because here is the quandary. As his caucus has been chanting about Gaza, waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs while being sworn in as MPs, Shaw has been curiously absent. A casual observer could assume that, well, Shaw isn’t on the same page as the rest of his party. I’d go further. I suggest, on this issue, he is in a minority of one which is why, if you will excuse the pun, he decided to Cop-out.

I’d wager Shaw would be the only member of the current Parliament that has read Limits to Growth, one of the very few who understands the distinction between Carbon and Carbon Dioxide and, in the minority of his caucus that knows what the Keeling Curve is.

Galvanising the public about the impending tsunami that will accompany the melting of Greenland is increasingly difficult.

There are better issues, and this week’s hot-topic is Gaza. There will be another as some fresh outrage triggers the Tik-Tok set into action; but if you live for the stimulus-response of clicks and hunger for the feed-back of an angry crowd then re-cycling Al Gore’s talking points will not get you where you need to go.

Shaw is not the co-leader of the Green Party because you cannot lead if others will not follow.

His party is no longer interested in environmental issues. They are engaged in performative theatre. Tearing down the only member of their party who is genuinely passionate about environmental issues over his failure to denounce Zionism, or whatever is the cultural touch-stone of the week, will generate the only thing his colleagues are passionate about: attention.

And to drive home the exquisiteness of his predicament, he cannot become an independent. In 2018 Shaw, when he still had the power to command discipline, dragged a reluctant caucus to back an updated waka-jumping law. This was the deal done with Ardern and Peters in 2017 and, well, if he jumps expect his party to enforce its provisions.

The Green Party has become a vehicle for minor celebrities indulging in the pantomime of radicalism. It is no place for someone of Shaw’s integrity and mana; which is why they will destroy him. His continued existence is a hand-brake on their excess.

Jeanette Fitzsimons, Rod Donald, Russell Norman; these were serious people who entered politics to achieve things. It is difficult to imagine them co-habiting within the current caucus.

In Golding’s tale Ralph was forced to retreat to the trees to escape the bloodlust of Jack’s minions but Shaw has one option Ralph did not. He can leave the island. Hopefully, as he works his contacts and networks in Dubai he can find a suitable opportunity for a man of his ability and integrity; because there is no longer any place for them in the current Green caucus.