Green MP Gareth Hughes has announced he will retire at the election. Its understandable - he's been there ten years, and wants to actually see his children grow up rather than miss it while drowning in the toxic parliamentary sewer. But his departure is also a huge loss for the Greens, stripping them of parliamentary experience and energy.
Hughes has also made it clear that one of the reasons for his departure is frustration at the failure of this government to rise to the challenges we face and be transformational. That was always a doomed hope, and not just because of NZ First: Labour is an establishment party, so it reflexively supports the status quo, no matter how unjust, unequal, and unsustainable it is. And yet, the need for transformation to deal with climate change and inequality is clear. Sadly, convincing our sclerotic establishment of that is simply banging your head against a brick wall. That's useful in the long-term - it wears down the wall, so that eventually, someday, your successors can smash it - but frustrating and pointless in the short-term. And its perfectly understandable that people don't want to waste their time doing that, especially when they have better things to do with their lives.