Swarbrick says Kiwis are sick of political 'tit-for-tat' as Greens rise in polls

The Greens co-leader says she's not taking anything for granted as the party surges in the polls. 

The latest 1News-Verian poll has the Greens up one point to 16% — retaining a record high result— with National on top, rising a huge four points to 32% and Labour dropping one to 27%. 

Chloe Swarbrick told Kerre Woodham people have felt disillusioned by legacy parties, and it's a global trend. 

"They have failed to reach the challenges of our time and tackle the big structural economic issues, in particular wealth inequality, which means regular hard working people are struggling to get by day-to-day." 

Swarbrick said whether you're on the left or the right, when you look at the current theatre —"or circus"— on Parliament TV, it is clearly not fit for purpose or working. 

"I think that's part of the reason we're starting to see a convergence from New Zealanders on all sides of the aisle, all sides of the political spectrum, on the need to just agree on some really big long-term plans to address the issues that we are facing. And that has really changed the tone quite a lot this election. 

"There are a lot of people sick of the tit-for-tat and just want genuine solutions." 

Swarbrick said it is really important for future governments to collaborate and work together on the big issues. 

She said the last few weeks since Parliament has risen have been "amazing", describing the last three years as "challenging" because of the amount of legislation that has been rushed through under urgency. 

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