Where the hell are the Greens? (Patreon)

Remember that North & South cover? That was in the lead up to the 2017 election. Oh how we laughed. Who were they trying to reach with that photo shoot?

I guess they were at least trying to reach someone?

At the moment the Greens have gone invisible. Prior to Covid it looked like the Greens might be the party at the forefront of the issue du jour - Climate Change.

Events, though, have certainly conspired against climate change getting its day in the sun.

There was the climate march in 2019 that occurred on the same day as the Christchurch Mosque terrorist attack so it disappeared from our consciousness.

Then as people's concern about climate change started ramping up again there was a global pandemic. So we stopped giving a crap (not all of us of course, but dealing with two existential crises is just a bridge too far for many of us). 

After Covid Part I we looked like we'd have a relatively normal campaign, and I said in my "How to campaign" for the Greens that they could outflank Labour on its left. Just one week later and they came out with a wealth tax and increased benefits. Brilliant!

Since Covid II the Return happened, the Greens have become practically invisible and irrelevant again. 

All parties are struggling for relevance against the behemoth that is the star power of Ardern, but the Greens have been particularly silent. That will be because they largely agree with Labour's response, which gives them nothing to comment on.

So they need to find a point of difference, and they need to inject themself into the story more. Yes Covid is back, so what does this mean for the Green's policies? We're going to need something to replace/build on tourism so make that ecological, or technological - being the party of a digital future wouldn't be a bad pivot. In the Green's manifesto there was a bit about New Zealand's digital future, which is more than any other party has done. And I know that James Shaw spoke at the Future of Government conference this week - the only Minister to do so. 

They need pithy one liners that they can build short sharp press releases about and push those out every day, commenting on the day's events. Sharpen those claws towards National in the way that James has at NZFirst. Even have a crack at Labour every now and again (but not the PM, anyone who has a crack at her suffers in the polling). 

The return of Covid has probably hurt the Greens more than anyone (if we accept that NZ First is probably already screwed). Becoming irrelevant to the conversation is how parties die. Unless they find their voice, the Greens risk vanishing completely from the political landscape.