Keith Ng on Greens compost

Keith Ng focuses his fact checker on the Greens claims about the cost of milk increasing 60% and that it is all Fonterra”s fault and the greedy supermarkets. Some key points Keith makes:

• Milk has only increased 28% in the last year, and is only 2% higher than two years ago, 3% higher than three years ago and only 8% higher than four years ago. In other words the cost of milk dipped last year and is now at much the same level as it has been for the last four years.
• Dairy products make up only 1.2% of household expenditure or $11.60 a week. Capping Fonterra’s prices would save less than $2 a week per household.

Keith then looks at their call for farmers to move away from areas where we export, into areas where we import so we are self sufficient. Keith sums this up as:

Which, I assume, means that she wants New Zealand farming to diversify — away from the areas where it’s strongest, and into areas where it’s not.

He does a nice analogy:

To cutting down dairy production in favour of wheat etc. is like pouring water down the drain so you have empty vessels to catch rain with.

His summary:

This goes far, far beyond disappointing. Not only has the Greens managed to be wrong and stupid, but they’ve also managed to marry pre-Rod Donald naivety with Winston-like populism.

Did he really compare them to Winston?

It’s the kind of stunt that Winston pulls — making outrageous claims, safe in the knowledge that there will be no repercussions because it’s too ridiculous to be taken seriously.

Oh yes he did.

But even while trying to be populist, they still manage to look like the boogeyman from the ideological fringes.

Indeed.

They are right that Labour has been all talk about climate change, and that National won’t be any better. The only place where leadership on climate change can come from is the Greens. But they need to accept the simple fact that most of the people who support action on climate change are not out to destroy capitalism or globalisation.

This is not about cynical political rebranding, it’s about building a real consensus. The Greens can’t earn the trust of a broader voter base until you give up the radical part of themselves. Every time you push a radical left agenda, you’re pushing supporters of climate change action further away.

I like the implicit assertion that many in the Greens are out to destroy capitalism and globalisation.
Sadly, Keith is correct.

As I said yesterday, there are environmental areas where the Greens could have a positive influence on a National Government. But their “social justice” wing which does want to destroy capitalism is a big turn off for many.