MORE FICTION FROM THE GREEN PARTY

The Green Party support the Electoral Integrity  Bill during its second reading in Parliament and Golriz Ghahraman repeats the fiction that the Green's are obliged to support the legislation under the good faith provision of its coalition agreement with Labour and New Zealand First.

WHILE ONE Green Party co-leader, James Shaw, appears to have gone missing as far as defending the Electoral Integrity Bill is concerned, it was Green MP Golriz Ghahraman who drew the short straw yesterday and was required to defend the draconian waka jumping legislation in Parliament yesterday.

Her speech was brief and perfunctory and subject to a barrage of interjections from the National Party opposition. A testy exchange occurred between National's Gerry Brownlee and the Assistant Speaker Poto Williams after Brownlee accused the Green's of having 'flexible kaupapa'.

Ghahraman trotted out the same discredited defence of the legislation we've heard also from co-leader Marama Davidson. She said that while the Green's did not think the Electoral Integrity Bill was "a particularly good bill' they had to support it under the good faith provision of its coalition agreement with Labour and New Zealand First. Said Ghahraman:

"Our confidence and supply agreement includes a commitment to act in good faith to allow Labour and New Zealand First to implement their coalition agreement. Mostly, that doesn't involve the kind of proactive support in the House, but this bill does. So it is this commitment to good faith and our commitment to see the new Government succeed that has decided our position on this bill. "

But this is not true. As has been revealed this week, the Green Party caucus was advised by the Cabinet Office in January that it was under no obligation to support the legislation. For Ghahraman to claim that supporting the legislation is essential to the Government's success is simply nonsensical and little more than an attempt to quell the growing dissatisfaction among Green Party supporters about the party's political direction.