I wonder if it's time to ask the question – is Chlöe Swarbrick a bit useless?

In the Herald's vast poll churn that produces the chances of the current Government being re-elected at about 88%, is the real revelation that the Greens have been going backwards since the last election?

The trouble appears twofold;

1) The falls have been slow. Almost so small and slow you most probably didn’t notice them.

2) Chlöe is a media favourite, so no one is really scrutinising her as to whether she's any good.

Now, yes, Marama Davidson is a leader as well and I suppose you can blame her as much as you can Chlöe. But to my eye and mind it's Chlöe who is the head leader, despite their best PC intentions to spread the load, or blame.

She is also not in Government, so you tend to get, if not a free ride, certainly an easier one.

Now obviously I'm not a Green voter so none of this personally matters to me. But I'm all about continual improvement and the Greens are not on a path of any such thing.

Under Swarbrick they have drifted. They have not grown. They are not the environmental party they once were under Fitzsimons or Donald. They are essentially angry socialists who campaign for the homeless and downtrodden.

They are virtue signallers.

She came to prominence because she was young. She was possibly seen as the future.

To give her her dues, she has run a good ground game in Auckland Central and won her electorate and that may be her strength – a good local MP.

Because she is not a good leader.

If the Greens are to excel, they need to be better managed. Obviously, the Tana, Doyle, Kerekere, and Ghahraman shambles adds to the sense the place is a mess.

But it's all unfolded under Swarbrick. The good news is if they want to recognise it, they can fix it.

Certainly if this had all played out as part of a coalition you would have thought she would have been ejected a long time back.

Saving her partially of course is the lack of talent behind her. Do you honestly see Genter or Menendez-March as saviours, or yet more of the same ill-disciplined verbal rabble?

When you pare it back, look at the noise versus the outcomes and include the inescapable numbers, she has failed as a leader.

So is she a bit useless? Yes.

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Mike's Minute: Is Chlöe Swarbrick a bit useless?

The Mike Hosking Breakfast