A look inside the policy and pronouncements of this weekend\u2019s Green Party AGM, from Henry Oliver in today\u2019s excerpt from The Bulletin.<\/p>\n
To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday,\u00a0sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The last parliamentary party to throw its big annual event, the Green Party used its AGM in South Auckland this weekend to unveil its full election manifesto and campaign slogan. As reported by\u00a0RNZ\u2019s Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira<\/a>, the 43-page, member-developed document covers a mix of previously announced commitments with some new policy, focusing on climate, democracy, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tax and technology. Co-leader Marama Davidson said it captured issues needing attention \u201cnow and over the next three years,\u201d including taxing the wealthy and large corporations to fund public services and a nationalised energy company.<\/p>\n The party also revealed its slogan, \u201cFor All of Us,\u201d which co-leader Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick described as extending beyond existing supporters to people the party doesn\u2019t know, and \u201ceven those we don\u2019t like\u201d.<\/p>\n A packed room and a pointed subtext<\/p>\n The Spinoff\u2019s\u00a0Hayden Donnell was there<\/a>, and suggested the Greens are trying to position themselves as the natural home for voters abandoning the two major parties \u2013 many of whom are instead drifting toward NZ First or Opportunity. While noting the AGM\u2019s crowd, at AUT\u2019s south Auckland campus, was younger and the room fuller than at NZ First\u2019s recent launch, he noted a\u00a0recent poll<\/a>\u00a0showing Green support down to 9%, raising doubts about whether voters will reward the party\u2019s pitch.<\/p>\n According to Donnell, Swarbrick\u00a0spent much of her time on stage leaning into the party\u2019s three-decade history, invoking its 2005 \u201cBuy Kiwi Made\u201d campaign to argue the Greens represent authentic \u201cNew Zealand first\u201d values, and needling Act\u2019s new recruit Paul Henry over his nostalgia for a bygone \u201caspirational\u201d New Zealand, saying that era was underpinned by higher taxes and a stronger welfare state. Davidson, meanwhile, alluded to Opportunity without naming it, suggesting the Greens had championed ideas like solar power and energy resilience long before newer parties took them up.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current political environment should be a Green dream come true,\u201d he writes. \u201cIncrementalism is loosening its headlock on our nation. Centrists are fleeing left and right, abandoning their red and blue teams in search of real change. But instead of heading to what\u2019s arguably their natural homes, many of the disillusioned voters are jumping into the arms of Peters or Qiulae Wong\u201d.<\/p>\n A pause, at least, on AI data centre consents<\/p>\n Within that broader launch, the one substantive new policy announcement was a proposed one-year moratorium on new AI data centre consents. As outlined by\u00a0The Post\u2019s Henry Cooke<\/a>, Swarbrick argued the pause would let the country establish rules before allowing more facilities to be built, noting current consent can happen without community input and that overseas experience has seen similar projects strain water supplies and increase power prices.<\/p>\n The party defines an \u201cAI data centre\u201d as one using 50 megawatts or more \u2013 about 1% of national demand. Swarbrick pointed to the already consented Datagrid facility in Southland, expected to draw roughly 6% of the country\u2019s total electricity supply, as evidence of the scale involved. Christopher Luxon dismissed the framing as \u201calarmist,\u201d arguing data centres are important to the economy and that future developments should bring \u201cadditionality\u201d to the power system.<\/p>\n Calling for change in political tone<\/p>\n