The History of The Green Party
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Where did Green politics begin? Right here, in New Zealand and Australia. When did it begin? In March 1972 the world's very first Green party (the United Tasmania Group) was formed at a public meeting in Hobart; in May 1972 a meeting at Victoria University, Wellington, launched the Values Party, the world's first national Green party. The Values Party contested the 1972 general election, putting forward radical new policies such as Zero Economic Growth, Zero Population Growth and abortion, drug and homosexual law reform. These were published in the world's first Green election manifesto, 'Blueprint for New Zealand - An Alternative Future'. Over the next three years Green policies were debated, developed and expanded to form the basis of 'Beyond Tomorrow', the 1975 Values Party manifesto. This was a comprehensive statement of Green politics which was widely distributed overseas and contributed to the development of Green parties elsewhere. The Values Party achieved 5.3% of the vote in 1975 - a result which under an MMP voting system would have earned it seats in Parliament. Unfortunately under the First Past the Post constituency-based system it was never able to concentrate its vote in one electorate and thus win even one seat. Therefore despite a comparatively large and active membership, and a very professional election campaign in 1978, its vote dropped to just over 2% as voters attempted (unsuccessfully) to rid the country of conservative Prime Minister Rob Muldoon by voting Labour. Values was also torn by internal strife about its political orientation - it was difficult having to invent Green politics before the term 'Green' was even coined (by the German Greens when they contested their first national level election in 1980). This did not mean, however, that Green politics was totally unsuccessful in New Zealand during that time. A substantial number of Values Party members came out of or were heavily involved in 'movement' politics - particularly the peace movement, the women's movement, and the environment movement. Values made major contributions of personnel, money, time and effort to the anti-nuclear movement, in both its anti-war and anti-power branches. Both were successful - the nuclear power option for New Zealand has been rejected; New Zealand is also a nuclear free zone. Values members were organisers and leaders of some major environmental campaigns to stop excessive hydro-electric development and unnecessary, polluting industrial growth. At the local level they were behind numerous campaigns for better public transport and cycleways, for recycling and reuse of waste, for urban heritage preservation and restoration, and for co-operative enterprises. The Values Party also had the first female Deputy Leader of a New Zealand political party (Cathy Wilson, 1974) and the first female Leader (Margaret Crozier, 1979), and the first 'out' gay candidate (Robin Duff, 1978). Green politics was being actively practised in New Zealand in the 1970s, even though the electoral climate was unfavourable. Between 1979 and 1989 the Values/Green Party existed largely in spirit rather than in practice. In 1989 there was a revival of the Green impulse and Greens contested local body elections throughout New Zealand, with several successes. In May 1990 the current Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand was formed from a merger of Values and the new Green groups, and contested the 1990 general election six months later, winning 7% of the total vote although it was not able to stand candidates in all electorates. This made it New Zealand's most successful 'minor' party - however under First Past the Post it was still not possible to get into Parliament. There were good reasons for making common cause with other parties which also wanted electoral reform and were opposed to the New Right direction of both the National and Labour parties, and in 1991 The Greens became foundational members of the five-party Alliance. Over the next few years The Greens contributed to Alliance policy development, paying particular attention to environmentally sustainable economic development, which is encapsulated in the policy launched at The Greens 1996 annual conference - 'Green 2000'. Within the Alliance The Greens contested the 1993 and 1996 general election, and in 1996 the first Green M.P.s (Jeanette Fitzsimons, Rod Donald, Phillida Bunkle) took their seats in Parliament. By this time there were over 20 Green representatives at local government level, including the Mayor of Dunedin, Sukhi Turner. In November 1997 the Green Party decided to leave the Alliance and stand a separate list in 1999. The Green Co-Leaders honoured their pledges to remain members of the Alliance caucus until the House rose to begin campaigning in 1999, while Phillida Bunkle chose to leave the Greens and stay with the Alliance. The two parties gradually disengaged from each other, and the Greens invited Labour MP Michael Cullen to address a special Party Executive meeting about possible co-operation with Labour. In 1998 the Greens began developing separate policy from the Alliance, and a policy conference in January 1999 developed and ratified core policy for the 1999 general election. Policy themes for the election campaign were decided upon – they were safe food (instead of genetic engineering), nature conservation and strong communities. Election strategy was discussed at the 1998 party conference, and a two-goal strategy was decided upon. The first goal was for Jeanette Fitzsimons to win the seat of Coromandel; the second goal was to win over 5% of the party vote. In the event that the Party failed to reach 5%, a Green victory in Coromandel would at least ensure that there were some Greens in Parliament. Work on the Coromandel campaign began at the end of 1998, and continued up until election day. The next target of a Green standing in every seat – a tactic intended to increase the party vote as well – was harder to achieve. However, by the time nominations closed there were Greens in most electorates, although some were not active candidates. The 1999 election campaign started with nothing – no campaign chest, no staff, no material resources, and with the Greens polling at less than 1%. Its main resources were the Green Co-Leaders, MPs Rod Donald and Jeanette Fitzsimons, who worked enormously hard to raise the Green profile. Paradoxically the topical issue of genetic engineering also proved to be an election resource – it provided a good publicity platform for Green concerns, and the Green petition for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into GE was well supported. Ironically the Greens were also given a leg-up by the National Party. It helped by setting the election date as late as possible, to hang on to power for as long as it could, and also with intemperate attacks that National MPs made on Green candidates Jeanette Fitzsimons and Nandor Tanczos. These raised the profile of the Party more effectively than the limited paid publicity the Greens could afford, and attracted late enrolments to vote from young people and other previous non-voters. Yet by the middle of 1999 the Greens had just started to consistently poll over 1% and were still a long way short of the necessary 5%. This created difficulties for the party with media coverage, as it was still not seen as a newsworthy contender for political office. By the end of October 1999, however, the tide finally began to turn for the Greens. Polls showed that Jeanette could take Coromandel, and the 5% was within sight. But on election night, November 27, neither of these goals were reached. An agonising ten-day waited followed, while special votes were counted. As the Greens had hoped and expected, these votes tipped the balance. Jeanette won Coromandel (the first Green in the world to win a constituency seat in a-first-past-the-post race). The Party vote finalised at 5.2%, and seven Green MPs (Jeanette Fitzsimons, Rod Donald, Ian Ewen-Street, Sue Bradford, Sue Kedgely, Nandor Tanczos and Keith Locke) took their seats in the new parliament. The Party immediately began negotiations with the new Labour/Alliance coalition government, with a view to reaching an agreement for co-operation that would ensure the Government Green support while providing the Greens with access to government information. An agreement was drafted, and discussed several times by Green, Labour and Alliance representatives, but it was never signed. The Greens were never formally told that the Alliance did not want to improve Green access to government information and/or influence on government, and therefore put the brakes on the agreement. However, this was the conclusion drawn by the Party and by political commentators. Despite the lack of a formal agreement with the government, the Greens managed a new milestone in New Zealand politics by negotiating a $15 million ‘green’ package in the first Labour/Alliance budget. This included spending on organics, smoking cessation programmes, energy efficiency, legal aid and other assistance for environmental organisations, biosecurity, complementary health planning and natural resource accounts. The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Genetic Modification that the Greens campaigned for was set up and began hearings in October 2000. The first Green act - the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act - was passed. This act was first introduced as a private members’ bill by Jeanette in 1998, and gained majority support. Two other important Green private members’ bills – Rod Donald’s bill to allow for STV voting for local bodies and Keith Locke’s bill to reform the international treaty making process so that it comes under Parliamentary control – also made it to select committees. Select committee inquiries into organics and international human rights were initiated by Green MPs. However attempts to provide better financial support for students and to break the Labour/National united front on further trade liberalisation without environmental or human rights protections were unsuccessful. Support for the Greens, expressed in opinion polls throughout 2000, continued to increase, going as high as 7%. From the middle of the year the Greens generally polled as the third most popular party, overtaking the Alliance and ACT. By the end of the year the seven Green MPs had made an impact on Parliament out of proportion to their numbers, and the Party celebrated Green Day on December 7 2000 in a way that hadn’t been possible on election night 1999. Among the many things to celebrate was the difference the Greens were making to parliamentary debate. As a matter of principle as well as common decency, the Greens consistently refrain from making personal attacks or using abusive language in the House. The Party remains committed to discussing ideas and issues, not personalities. Greens have always insisted that means must be consistent with ends – a peaceful, just and environmentally sustainable world can only be built by acting in peaceful, just and sustainable ways. The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand now faces this challenge in the Beehive. |
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