Green leader

Metiria Turei's election to co-leadership of the Greens is the best thing the Green membership could have done to ensure the Green movement survives. In parliament she acts as their Leader of the House in the traditional sense, putting aside their own power-sharing jargon as "co-leaders", "musterers" etc. Sue Bradford has the stridency and commitment, but with Turei you get youth, you get a smart lawyer, you get a visage not tainted with historical loops in one's mind of her screaming in the face of cops, and Marxism with a capital M. You don't get that when you look at Metiria Turei.

You can see in that picture she's a real leader because she's getting that Rob Muldoon cheek thing going on a little bit there, just a hint of that going on there. People subconsciously imitate him in moments of Machiavellian victory. He, he. [Sorry, after perusing David Farrar's writings I'll have to correct that to his preferred spelling...]
Heh, heh.
That's how it starts.

She should be running in Mt Albert - not Dr Norman. But he was the leader - co-leader - at that time. And if they were aiming at balance by having co-leaders it rather underscores the potential for diversity when she's Maori - he's Australian.

It should be noted here that the recent abandonment of the Green caucus rule about not participating in filibusters (over the Aucklanderische Überstadt enabling laws) is a healthy sign the Greens have learned to play the game instead of playing nicely and getting nowhere. A certain amount of arse-kicking and a certain amount of whorage is necessary to get anything out of the game. The memorandum of understanding with the Nats (incl. the home insulation fund in the budget) signals that more old rules of the game are being changed. The question is if there are two co-leaders who is the arse-kicker and who is the whore?

NZ Herald:

Ms Turei, 39, has a lower public profile, but earned respect in her role behind the scenes as the party's musterer (whip). She has said the role gave her valuable people-management skills as well as working with other parties.

Ms Turei will join Russel Norman at the helm of the party, which has just signed up to a memorandum of understanding with the National Party to work on specific projects such as the new home insulation fund unveiled in the Budget.

Unlike other political parties, the Green co-leaders are selected by members rather than the caucus.

Although Ms Bradford had said she was the underdog in the build-up to the election, the delegates vote will be a blow for her.

Bradford is reported as saying she will stay on. She would be expected to, she's left a bigger legislative footprint than most backbenchers ever could hope to have.