NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Greens co-leadership: Audrey Young - Jacinda Ardern's mistaken insistence with James Shaw's Climate Change role

Audrey Young
By Audrey Young
Senior Political Correspondent·NZ Herald·
26 Jul, 2022 02:00 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

PM Jacinda Ardern responded to questions about the Green Party's co-leadership and James Shaw's role in government. Video / Mark Mitchell
Audrey Young
Opinion by Audrey Young
Audrey Young, Senior Political Correspondent at the New Zealand Herald based at Parliament, specialises in writing about politics and power.
Learn more

OPINION:

It is understandable that Jacinda Ardern considers James Shaw to be the best person for Climate Change Minister, because he clearly is, but it was a mistake for her to insist he will stay in the job whether or not he retains the Green Party co-leadership.

The Prime Minister had options, given the Labour Party she leads has an outright majority and is not dependent on the Greens to govern.

She could have said that there were MPs within her own party who could fill the job of Climate Change Minister if Shaw was forced to relinquish it.

She could have said that the ministerial appointment in November 2020 had been based on a mandate that Shaw had as co-leader and that without it, she would want to renegotiate the co-operation agreement with the Greens.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

That would not mean any person who replaced Shaw as co-leader would necessarily get any ministerial job.

Green MPs from left: Chloe Swarbrick, Jan Logie, Teanau Tuiono, Golriz Ghahraman, Marama Davidson, James Shaw, Elizabeth Kerekere, Ricardo Menendez March, Eugenie Sage and Julie Anne Genter.
Green MPs from left: Chloe Swarbrick, Jan Logie, Teanau Tuiono, Golriz Ghahraman, Marama Davidson, James Shaw, Elizabeth Kerekere, Ricardo Menendez March, Eugenie Sage and Julie Anne Genter.

Instead she gave Shaw and the Labour Party comfort that his position as Climate Change Minister was unthreatened by moves within the Greens to unseat him as co-leader. That simply reinforces the perception of Shaw as a lapdog of Labour.

And that is not going to help Shaw's chances of keeping the co-leadership in the next ballot.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ardern gave the assurance so swiftly as to suggest that she did not give other options any consideration.

Anticipating that Shaw might be challenged during the term, she took out insurance on November 1, 2020, by baking into the co-operation agreement between Labour and the Greens the names of the two co-leaders and their ministerial responsibilities.

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

'I thought he was in Te Puke!': Luxon heckled in Parliament over Hawaii holiday

26 Jul 04:40 AM

There is no tradition in doing so. In the agreement between the Māori Party and National in 2008, names were named. But in Labour's agreements with New Zealand First and the Greens in 2017, portfolios, not ministers were named.

And no matter how daft she believes the Greens to be, she needs to respect the agency of the party.

It is clear there is a dedicated faction within the Greens who find Government suffocating and would rather have the Greens agitating from outside than have them sacrifice the good for the perfect on an ongoing basis.

But there may just be a "grumpy Green" faction who would not again vote to "reopen nominations" at the next ballot.

Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw on their way to a climate change press conference in June 2021. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw on their way to a climate change press conference in June 2021. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The vote to re-open nominations for Shaw's co-leadership position was taken on Saturday when it was not known how that would affect the Greens position in Government.

Some may have thought it would create the chance for Shaw to remain a minister while having Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick co-leading the party from outside Government. Swarbrick has since ruled herself out.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The best outcome for the faction opposing Shaw is that someone credible from outside Parliament challenges Shaw, or that he again fails to reach more than 75 per cent threshold if he turns out to be the only candidate. And such a result would put Ardern is a very difficult position.

Because despite Shaw and Ardern's assurances that he will keep his job no matter what, it would be difficult for him to remain a minister if he were rejected twice.

The options for Shaw's future may have been simpler if instead of the ballot paper offering the option of "re-open nominations" it had offered the more definitive description "no-confidence."

You don't see Boris Johnson contesting the Tory leadership against Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss after the confidence vote. You didn't see Judith Collins contesting the leadership of National last November after a vote of no-confidence. "No-confidence" has a finality to it.

But the Greens do things differently and the party's more woolly processes give Shaw a second chance.

The Prime Minister ultimately can decide who serves as a minister and who did not.
Jenny Shipley made that clear in 1998 when she kicked out some New Zealand First ministers and kept some. John Key demonstrated that in 2009 when he stymied a coup attempt against Rodney Hide by Heather Roy by saying he would ditch the deal with Act unless he remained leader.

Stability of the Government is not at issue for Ardern. The perception of stability may be at issue if Labour and the Greens plan to campaign as a going concern in next year's election.

But if Shaw were unable to muster enough support on his second chance, Ardern would be extremely unwise to ignore the internal wishes of the Greens.

That would cause even greater division in the Greens.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from New Zealand

New ZealandUpdated

Emergency services rush to Auckland night markets, two people seriously injured

21 Jun 07:21 AM
New Zealand

'Un-Kiwi' attitudes: Acting PM Seymour takes aim at Brian Tamaki after protest

21 Jun 05:30 AM
New Zealand|crime

Man arrested over violent Auckland crime spree

21 Jun 05:04 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

 Emergency services rush to Auckland night markets, two people seriously injured

Emergency services rush to Auckland night markets, two people seriously injured

21 Jun 07:21 AM

Police and ambulance staff are on the scene at the popular night markets in Sth Auckland.

'Un-Kiwi' attitudes: Acting PM Seymour takes aim at Brian Tamaki after protest

'Un-Kiwi' attitudes: Acting PM Seymour takes aim at Brian Tamaki after protest

21 Jun 05:30 AM
Man arrested over violent Auckland crime spree

Man arrested over violent Auckland crime spree

21 Jun 05:04 AM
Pile of hoarded goods go up in flames

Pile of hoarded goods go up in flames

Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP