The Green Party says they’ve made “major changes” to their selection processes before the 2026 general election.
This follows the ousting of disgraced MP Darleen Tana and a difficult term for Benjamin Doyle, who faced serious threats and vitriol before deciding to leave Parliament.
Sitting down in a traditional end-of-year interview with the Herald, co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick said they were “bloody proud” of their MPs and focused on what they needed to do before the 2026 general election.
It’s been a year of lows and highs for the Greens, but they are far from unique in that. There was Davidson’s defiant and inspiring return to work in February after a battle with breast cancer and ambitious policy announcements, including plans to revoke major mining consents if they get into power and an economic strategy.
They sat aghast as Climate Change Minister Simon Watts admitted new methane targets could breach a 1.5C global warming goal and beamed with pride as they watched their MPs “kicking butt” in the debating chamber.
Swarbrick’s highlight of the year was “the real nerd stuff” – “the coherence of our economic strategy”. This is where the party declared the Government’s “fiscal straitjacket” to be “junk” and is seeking semi-perpetual surpluses by stabilising debt levels through persistent Budget deficits “as long as the economy grows at a sufficiently high rate”.
“This, I think, is the grunt work that will sit behind what we will transition into election year and it has given us a heck of a lot of fodder to go and talk to people all across the country, including a lot of audiences which we haven’t been in front of in the past,” Swarbrick said.
It is a balancing act for the Greens, a party for the environment and climate change but also the cost of living, which remains a key issue for New Zealanders (shown through polling) but perhaps also a daily reality that makes selling the importance of spending money on climate change a hard argument.
“Climate change is a cost-of-living disaster,” Swarbrick said.
“Not only in the increasing extremities and frequency of severe weather events but even just the adaption stuff, the retreat of insurance and therefore mortgages, [exacerbating] the housing crisis.”
Davidson said internal polling has set out the “work we know we have to do”.
“We absolutely have to be able to show people and gain the trust of the people on how we can improve their lives, particularly the cost of living. We have to do that mahi,” she said.
“People need to see us continuing to be strong on environment and climate. What communities are asking of us, what we’re hearing from around the tours that we’ve been doing as co-leaders, the outreach and the visits we’ve been engaging in, communities we haven’t necessarily been in front of, it’s all pointing to the work that we have to do.”
November marked Davidson’s 10-year anniversary in Parliament and her major reflection was how much tougher the political climate is today.
“It does feel harder, the political environment. I thought it was tough already,” she said.
“What is hard is we’re all humans trying to do our best but the political system, the nature of it, maybe even the media sensationalism doesn’t really humanise us, doesn’t really engender politicians genuinely coming together to work collaboratively. And I feel like that is harder.”
Her MP Benjamin Doyle felt perhaps the darkest side of putting oneself in the political arena. Doyle was embroiled in a social media firestorm after posting controversial comments online and faced “immense death threats and abuse”.
“I knew coming to Parliament I would face prejudice and homophobia. I knew that people would not like the way I dress or speak or the causes I advocate for,” Doyle said in one of their final public addresses as an MP.
“I knew that I would be under scrutiny, as is appropriate for every single person who has the privilege of this position. But I could never imagine or prepare myself to be attacked in such a baseless, personal and violent way.”
Doyle resigned from Parliament in September. Swarbrick said the party had screened “immense numbers of death threats and abuse” directed at Doyle and their child. Police confirmed in September there were 10 reports under investigation.
In October 2024, Darleen Tana was removed as an MP in Parliament after months of party investigations into allegations she knew about alleged migrant exploitation at her husband’s business.
For the general election next year, Davidson said they had had “fantastic interest” from those wanting to stand for the party.
“We’ve been really impressed at the people who have been coming forward and putting their hands up. You’ll hear more when we are able to get through the party process.
“Our party process, our selection process, we have majorly improved them, a lot more robust, ensuring that we are able to keep candidates safe and prepare them for the election, the demands of what is absolutely going to be a pretty tough election. We’ve made some quite major changes there.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.