There will be many Green members and supporters, however, who, having watched Q+A’s Jack Tame interrogate Swarbrick, may be wondering whether accepting TVNZ’s invitation to be interviewed was as shrewd as issuing it.
Tame is an exceptionally talented broadcaster whose boyish good-looks mask a daunting interrogative talent. If there are weaknesses in any given political persona, Tame may be relied upon to find them. Last Sunday (11/2/24) he found Swarbrick’s – and goaded her into revealing them, live, on free-to-air public television.
The weakness Tame homed in on was Swarbrick’s political inflexibility – a flaw which has only grown as her time in Parliament has lengthened.
When she first burst upon the political scene, as an independent candidate for the Auckland mayoralty in the 2016 local body elections, the clarity of her thought and expression was Swarbrick’s greatest asset. Here was a young woman who was capable of presenting her ideas forcefully, without prevarication, and then supporting them with a truly intimidating army of facts and figures.
Swarbrick’s campaign may have been run on a shoestring, and mostly on social media, but it made sufficient political impact to leave her the third-highest-polling candidate for Mayor. Clearly, this diminutive, articulate and courageous young woman was destined for great things. That Labour and the Greens set out immediately to recruit her, surprised nobody.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is possible to observe that Swarbrick’s choice of the Greens may not have been the best one. While, on paper, the Greens’ determination to arm their politics with the weaponry of reason and science made it a perfect fit for the serious, almost scholarly, Swarbrick, there were risks. The currents of unreason that were flowing with ever-increasing force beneath the surface of Green Party politics were bound to end up battering her core intellectual and political principles.
Swarbrick’s candidacy for the Greens’ co-leadership was prompted by the departure of James Shaw. In spite of an impressive record of political wins – most obviously the Zero Carbon Act – Shaw has found it increasingly difficult to make his colleagues understand that their electoral success depends on voters seeing them as the only party dedicated to combatting global warming effectively. Shaw’s implied warning: that a Green Party which cares less about climate change than it does about fighting the culture wars will end up bleeding away its support (a proposition confirmed by the latest Curia poll) went unheeded.
The politician who emerged from Tame’s interview with Swarbrick cannot replace the qualities the Greens are losing with Shaw. Her six years in Parliament appear to have diminished her faith in democracy as the most effective political system. Swarbrick has observed politicians of all colours tapping into the raw emotional power of ignorance and prejudice, and it appears to have hardened her and made her brittle. There no longer seems to be as much “give” in the Swarbrick of 2024, as there was in the Swarbrick who entered Parliament in 2017. Iron has entered her soul.
Swarbrick’s declining faith in representative democracy is reflected in her conviction that “the people” possess a power that overmatches the tawdry compromises of professional politicians. In her pitch to Green members Swarbrick hints that this power may be sufficient to bring the whole rotten, planet-destroying system crashing down. That, with the masses at their back, the Greens can build a new and better Aotearoa.
How many times has revolutionary zealotry offered this millenarian mirage to an angry and despairing world? How many times has it all gone horribly wrong? And how sad is it that a politician as talented as Chloe Swarbrick now finds herself wandering this arid trail?
Many have praised/condemned Jack Tame for identifying Swarbrick’s unflinching defence of the Palestinian cause as the most effective means of exposing her zealotry. But, to those who once saluted Swarbrick’s political promise, Tame’s uncompromising interview proved profoundly depressing.
Chris Trotter is a well known political commentator. This article was published HERE
Tame is an exceptionally talented broadcaster whose boyish good-looks mask a daunting interrogative talent. If there are weaknesses in any given political persona, Tame may be relied upon to find them. Last Sunday (11/2/24) he found Swarbrick’s – and goaded her into revealing them, live, on free-to-air public television.
The weakness Tame homed in on was Swarbrick’s political inflexibility – a flaw which has only grown as her time in Parliament has lengthened.
When she first burst upon the political scene, as an independent candidate for the Auckland mayoralty in the 2016 local body elections, the clarity of her thought and expression was Swarbrick’s greatest asset. Here was a young woman who was capable of presenting her ideas forcefully, without prevarication, and then supporting them with a truly intimidating army of facts and figures.
Swarbrick’s campaign may have been run on a shoestring, and mostly on social media, but it made sufficient political impact to leave her the third-highest-polling candidate for Mayor. Clearly, this diminutive, articulate and courageous young woman was destined for great things. That Labour and the Greens set out immediately to recruit her, surprised nobody.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is possible to observe that Swarbrick’s choice of the Greens may not have been the best one. While, on paper, the Greens’ determination to arm their politics with the weaponry of reason and science made it a perfect fit for the serious, almost scholarly, Swarbrick, there were risks. The currents of unreason that were flowing with ever-increasing force beneath the surface of Green Party politics were bound to end up battering her core intellectual and political principles.
Swarbrick’s candidacy for the Greens’ co-leadership was prompted by the departure of James Shaw. In spite of an impressive record of political wins – most obviously the Zero Carbon Act – Shaw has found it increasingly difficult to make his colleagues understand that their electoral success depends on voters seeing them as the only party dedicated to combatting global warming effectively. Shaw’s implied warning: that a Green Party which cares less about climate change than it does about fighting the culture wars will end up bleeding away its support (a proposition confirmed by the latest Curia poll) went unheeded.
The politician who emerged from Tame’s interview with Swarbrick cannot replace the qualities the Greens are losing with Shaw. Her six years in Parliament appear to have diminished her faith in democracy as the most effective political system. Swarbrick has observed politicians of all colours tapping into the raw emotional power of ignorance and prejudice, and it appears to have hardened her and made her brittle. There no longer seems to be as much “give” in the Swarbrick of 2024, as there was in the Swarbrick who entered Parliament in 2017. Iron has entered her soul.
Swarbrick’s declining faith in representative democracy is reflected in her conviction that “the people” possess a power that overmatches the tawdry compromises of professional politicians. In her pitch to Green members Swarbrick hints that this power may be sufficient to bring the whole rotten, planet-destroying system crashing down. That, with the masses at their back, the Greens can build a new and better Aotearoa.
How many times has revolutionary zealotry offered this millenarian mirage to an angry and despairing world? How many times has it all gone horribly wrong? And how sad is it that a politician as talented as Chloe Swarbrick now finds herself wandering this arid trail?
Many have praised/condemned Jack Tame for identifying Swarbrick’s unflinching defence of the Palestinian cause as the most effective means of exposing her zealotry. But, to those who once saluted Swarbrick’s political promise, Tame’s uncompromising interview proved profoundly depressing.
Chris Trotter is a well known political commentator. This article was published HERE
12 comments:
This is where free speech is fantastic, becaause at least we know what a disturbed person this woman is.
The Greens are no longer a Party striving for the best for NZ, they are a bitter trouble making rabble - much like the student protesters but without the benefit of youth and intelligence
The serious task of governing nations is too complex and important to leave to persons who have no real experience of life - only university studies and then grandstanding in Parliament.
Another disaster in the making.
Delightfully for those of us who have little more than disdain and contempt for left wing idealists, Chloe manages to trip over her own shoes almost every time she speaks.
I recently saw her and David Seymour interviewed by by one of the averagely worthless talking heads on a state funded TV propaganda channel. They spoke about the East Coast flooding .
Chloe went on as usual , reminding us, repeatedly, how deeply researched and profoundly intellectually based her opinions were. And reminding us ,and reminding us, ad nauseum. And telling us how simply adapting to climate change was insufficient. We all needed to suffer. And to prostrate ourselves in front of the world in penance for the miniscule proportion of the worlds CO2 emissions we produce. And thereby to make our poor and our hungry and our sick and our homeless even worse off.
In reply Seymour simply told us how he had stood with the owners of a flooded Hawkes Bay orchard on the broken stop banks of the adjacent river. And he mentioned both of the owners by name. And he said if the stop banks had been stronger built like the ones on the other side of the river , their property wouldn't have been wrecked for years to come.
Chloe didn't mention if she had actually been to Hawkes Bay. The human issues didn't really matter. Nor the immediate solutions. The suffering and tragedy was merely a platform for her on which to parade her " deeply researched and profoundly intellectual " opinions. And she looked very naive, very Pollyanna-ish, very Alice in Wonderland.
The contrast between her and Seymour was profound.
Many voted Green this last election because they were too just too ashamed to vote Labour again. Who will they vote for next time ?
No doubt when Chloe runs out of credibility and political capital here she will become part of a female messianic trio from our little antipodean outpost wandering the world looking for a platform on which they can all display their self proclaimed genius.
Good riddance. The sooner the better. And they can take Jack Tame and John Campbell with them as choir boys.
And oh. did I tell you how deeply researched and profoundly intellectual Chloe's opinions are ?
Exposing the Nihilism of Ms Swarbrick is fascinating to watch.
She is in the house of Democracy, Parliament but hates it.
She gets paid by the taxpayer and a good proportion of them don’t agree with her, yet she hates the economic model and historical bases which founded the institution she resides in.
She hates jails but doesn’t have another solution. Maybe she likes Anarchy in the streets ?
This is why getting into parliament when you’re young doesn’t work.
Who says last year's floods were caused by 'climate change'?
I know TV3 News declared it was the day after, but show me the peer reviewed paper with the evidence. Meanwhile there's a fair bit of evidence that the volcanic eruption in Tonga was largely responsible.
The Esk Valley has been washed away several times in the last century and all the slips in my neighbourhood (Birkenhead) that I have inspected were caused by inadequate storm drain design and housing intensification.
Brilliant comment Tom Logan Love it…!
"Tame is an exceptionally talented broadcaster whose boyish good-looks mask a daunting interrogative talent."
"When she first burst upon the political scene, as an independent candidate for the Auckland mayoralty in the 2016 local body elections, the clarity of her thought and expression was Swarbrick’s greatest asset. Here was a young woman who was capable of presenting her ideas forcefully, without prevarication, and then supporting them with a truly intimidating army of facts and figures."
Mr trotter, humour, even comedy, is acceptable but please warn readers before introducing slapstick: Someone may injure themselves laughing.
Ms Swarbrick: Iron in her soul.... and lead in her head.
Part of the Greta Thunberg network of the dangerously woke.
AO: AGW will make more extreme weather events more likely, but you’re right that it is nigh impossible to determine if a specific weather event wouldn’t have happened without AGW or would have been less severe.
As for volcano forcing (VF) of the climate: that is well-known by climate scientists, but VF typically has a minor influence on climate and is short term. For the Tonga eruption specifically, there is this recent peer-reviewed, open-access article whose modelling indicates the short-term effect may have been a slight cooling of the southern hemisphere:
Schoeberl et al Geophys. Res. Lett. 2023, 50 "The Estimated Climate Impact of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption Plume" doi:10.1029/2023GL104634
The article critiques earlier modelling that indicated VF from the Tonga eruption would have had a slight warming effect on the climate. It seems to me it isn’t straightforward for scientists to tease out the climate effects of all the various influences of the Tonga eruption and that research on quantifying the VF of the Tonga eruption is ongoing. Nothing I can spot in the peer-reviewed research literature, however, indicates that VF from any recent eruptions are having much of a climate impact and nothing remotely approaching the effect of human-emitted CO2.
A more general survey can be found in this summary post on Climate Feedback, which can be found with a web search "Claim that current climate change can be explained satisfactorily by natural cycles and volcanic activity does not have scientific support"
(The posts on the Climate Feedback site are reviewed by climate scientists, though they aren’t themselves peer-reviewed journal articles).
LFC
I was going to write something stunningly insightful and on point but Tom Logan beat me to it.
Go Green
Get mean
Blinkered and obscene
Chloe personifies the loony Left perfectly. Her initial fresh-faced wacko enthusiasm has been replaced by the obsessively zealous intransigence that afflicts all radicals as they age.
The only fun for the rest of us is to watch as she gets ever more desperate and lecturing, confounded as to why the vast majority steer clear of her and her mates like a leaking sewage pipe in Wellington.
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