29 July 2002

Greens Still Wildly Out Of Step

The Green Party is still wildly out of step with public opinion on the lifting of the moratorium on genetic modification field trials. This today from Terry Dunleavy, national convener of Bluegreens.

"In Saturday's election, the one poll that really counts every three years, parties that campaigned for an extension of the moratorium past October next year were trounced, getting less than 8 per cent of the total vote. Yet, here we have Jeannette Fitzsimons continuing to recite the moratorium extension mantra as the only policy plank mentioned in her post-election comment this morning. This, in spite of voters having indicated clearly that it is as irrelevant as the Green Party has now become in our political processes.

"This fixation with the moratorium is yet another demonstration of the extent to which the Greens are in a fantasyland of their own, and out of step with public opinion as expressed in Saturday's voting results,"said Mr Dunleavy.

"Leaving aside the potheads and woolly dreamers who are the Greens core, I hope that other more moderate New Zealanders who were suckered into voting Green last Saturday will realise their mistake, and begin looking about for other parties who offer sensible policy paths toward sustainable development of our country. The National Party's "Bluegreen Vision for New Zealand" is a good place to start," Mr Dunleavy concluded.

More on www.bluegreens.org.nz

Bluegreens is an independent group of New Zealanders advising the National Party on environment and heritage issues.

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