Green no more?
OPINION: Your old mate has long dismissed the Greens as wooden bicycle enthusiasts with their heads in the clouds, but it looks like the ‘new Greens’ may actually be hard-nosed pragmatists when it comes to following voters.
The latest parliamentary expense disclosure shows that, on average, Green Party list MPs are outspending Labour, National and New Zealand First list MPs on air travel.
The average air travel spending for non-ministerial Green Party list MPs was $9816, compared to New Zealand First’s $8059, and National’s $7332, and Labour’s $6499.
Your old mate reckons this is a clear case of the smug Greens not walking (in fact, taking first-class flights instead) the talk on climate change.
Mind you it’s not the first time, back in March party co-leader and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw weakly defended his huge international travel expenses by claiming his enormous carbon footprint was offset by planting trees. Yeah, right!
