Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says the party is determined to return to the government benches, ahead of its annual general meeting.<\/p>\n
Party members, delegates, MPs, and candidates have gathered in South Auckland to prepare for the campaign ahead.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the AGM, Davidson told RNZ the Greens were committed to “getting rid of this government,” and having a strong influence on the next one.<\/p>\n
The party has already rolled out its tax policy<\/a>, as well as its policies for water<\/a> and energy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Co-leader Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick is set to announce a further policy on Sunday afternoon, with the rest of her speech focusing on rallying the membership for the campaign ahead.<\/p>\n Davidson will deliver a speech focused on the party’s values and release the party’s election manifesto.<\/p>\n The manifesto, which is developed by the wider party membership, contains the party’s broader priorities.<\/p>\n This year, Davidson said there had been a large uptick in volunteers, phone calls, and door knocks, compared to this stage of previous election years.<\/p>\n “There’s energy there that I don’t think even we were expecting, all due to the sort of vision and solutions that the Greens have been putting out.”<\/p>\n Unlike New Zealand First, which opens up its remit sessions to the media, or ACT, which promotes its AGM as more of a public rally, the Green Party’s meetings are more like a conclave.<\/p>\n The notoriously closed-door meetings have been full of drama in recent years, from the decision to vacate James Shaw’s position<\/a> as co-leader in 2022, to the agonising over Darleen Tana<\/a> in 2024 that led to three Pasifika members leaving the party.<\/p>\n Compared to the Greens’ tumultuous first year back in opposition, the party goes into the election more cohesive and relaxed.<\/p>\n Davidson said there had been aspects of the last few years that had been “traumatising,” but the party was stronger for it.<\/p>\n “No doubt we have gone through a lot this term, and even into last term. We’ve come through more than a lot, actually. Let’s be straight up. So to have come through that and know you can make it through to the light, the members are just really focused now on this election.”<\/p>\n While constitutional matters and remits are left for the other years, the membership will still vote on the party’s leadership.<\/p>\n Both co-leaders are set to be re-confirmed, but Davidson was not taking anything for granted.<\/p>\n “We have that yearly confirmation for a reason, because our members really do decide if we get the privilege of serving year after year. So I can’t rule out anything, but we’re hoping that we have good relationships across the party, and we will be campaigning hard to keep the roles that we’re going after.”<\/p>\n The party was on 10.3 percent in the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll<\/a>, up 0.2 points from the previous poll, but still a slight dip on the 11.6 percent the Greens got at the 2023 election.<\/p>\n It would give the Greens 13 seats in the House, two down from its current total.<\/p>\n