Greens v Mana

John Hartevelt at Stuff reports:

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman has attacked Hone Harawira’s new Mana Party as a throwback to the last century.

Mr Harawira launched his new party in Auckland at the weekend but other parties have quickly distanced themselves from it, with both Labour and National ruling out a working relationship.

Mr Harawira, independent since he quit the Maori Party, has given his proxy vote to the Greens.

At his party launch on Saturday, former Green MPs Sue Bradford and Nandor Tanczos spoke in support of the Mana Party. Ms Bradford could run as a candidate.

Dr Norman said “there might be a few votes” for the new party, but “maybe not a lot”. “I mean, who wants to relive the battles of the 1980s and 1990s? We’re in 2011 for God’s sake. We need a progressive force that actually deals with where we are now, not tries to refight the 1980s and 1990s.

I am not surprised that Dr Norman has swiped at the Mana Party. You look at the hard left policies they advocate, and it is pretty clear you are not going to get any National voters defecting to Mana. Hard to imagine the Phil Goff led Labour Party will lose too many votes either. The two biggest potential sources of votes are the Greens and the Maori Party.