Leighton Baker, Conservative Party NZ. We know it’s a little early to judge, but the Greens holding out so they can push for legalising Cannabis, while losing one of the world’s largest Marine Sanctuaries, does pose the question “What are the Greens really after?”
Legalising Cannabis will make some people’s escapism legal, but at a price that is way too high according to those who work with at risk youth. On the flip side, securing the Kermadec deal would have been a great legacy and moral victory for a Party supposedly focussed on saving the endangered.
If that’s not enough to make one question the actual beliefs of the Greens, then comes their call for a referendum! This from a party who wanted no part in the previous CIRs calling for fewer MPs and rejecting the Bradford bill.
For the sake of consistency and fairness, the Conservative Party calls on the Greens to first make Citizens’ Initiated Referenda binding, and then go out and collect the 300,000 plus signatures required to see a referendum go to the ballot.
Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen as history has shown that the Greens only want to hear the people’s voice if it agrees with their own philosophies. Not a great form of democracy really.