(as dictated to Mrs Grumble)
The Green Party’s Sue Bradford took some time to spit the dummy. But – at last – it has been spat.
She has announced her resignation, saying the Greens’ decision not to elect her co-leader was personally disappointing and she is ready for a change.
Alf is delighted. He thought she would be around for much too long after she lost the co-leadership vote.
This discomforting prospect was raised by the an item at the time in the NZ Herald.
Despite disappointment at losing the battle for the Green Party co-leadership, Sue Bradford has told her colleagues she intends to remain working as a member of Parliament.
Mind you, there was evidence then that she was a bad loser.
Ms Bradford left the Greens conference soon after the announcement was made that Metiria Turei was elected the party’s new female co-leader to replace Jeanette Fitzsimons.
To sulk, presumably.
Perhaps she has been sulking ever since.
But now she has opted to quit.
Green MP Sue Bradford has resigned from Parliament after losing her bid to become co-leader of the Green Party.
Ms Bradford will leave Parliament at the end of next month.
“The Party made a clear and democratic decision, but of course it was personally disappointing and I’m ready for a change,” Ms Bradford said.
The Herald’s recording of the resignation recalls that –
Shortly after the vote for the co-leadership, in May, Ms Bradford vowed to stay on as an MP.
The Herald report goes on to record that the 57 year-old has been in Parliament for four terms – stretching over a decade – and says she is proud of having given a political voice to children and young people, low-income workers and the unemployed.
“I’ll always be politically active and Parliament is just one vehicle for political change. I’ll be going back to the grassroots,” Ms Bradford said.
She said she would remain active in community groups and unions.
She can boast having had three of her Members’ Bills passed into law in the last Parliament, which included lifting the youth minimum wage to adult rates (tough on employers), extending the length of time some mothers in prison can keep their babies with them (namby-pamby penal reform) and amending section 59 of the Crimes Act so that children receive the same legal protection from assault as adults (to spare the rod and help raise a generation of brats).
Her replacement is Aucklander Dave Clendon, a sustainable business advisor.
Alf Grumble 