Former Green Party co-leader James Shaw’s valedictory speech: Admits he came ‘really close’ to quitting during career

Former Green Party co-leader James Shaw has given his last speech in Parliament this evening, marking the end of nearly nine years as leader and almost a decade as an MP.

Shaw began his valedictory speech at 5.30pm. It followed his resignation as co-leader in January. He served as a Government minister for six years.

Shaw has also revealed his post-politics gig tonight.

Infrastructure investment firm Morrison tonight announced Shaw is joining the company as an operating partner, based in Wellington.

The company - founded by the late New Zealand businessman Lloyd Morrison - said Shaw will be focused on driving the next generation of investment opportunities to support global de-carbonisation.

Meanwhile, Greenbridge Capital Management says Shaw is also joining part-time as its director of climate opportunity and global development.

Shaw began his valedictory speech by speaking about the “white-knuckle ride that is politics”, recounting the exhaustion he felt during past election campaigns, the disappointment of political polls, and the whirlwind of becoming a minister.

“I am simultaneously saddened and elated to be leaving [politics]. But mostly elated.”

He continued by expressing his gratitude. The first mention went to his wife, Annabel Shaw, sharing the story about how they first met in 2011 and how she reacted to learning he was running for Parliament.

“Annabel chose this life. A husband who is either choking to death from exhaustion and stress or overseas meeting the Pope. She chose to sacrifice the next 10 years to it and she would have chosen another three, if we had won another term in Government.

“This has never been just my journey, it has always been ours. Annabel, everything I have done here, I owe to you. Thank you. I love you.”

He then paid mention to his parents, Cynthia Shaw and Suzanne Jungersen. He spoke of what it meant to him and his parents when the Marriage Equality Act passed in 2013.

“Thank you for being here. Tonight and always.”

Shaw mentioned an incident where “a particularly vexed gentleman” fractured his eye socket on the street, and thanked two people who came to his aid, and were watching his speech from the public gallery.

His final thanks went to Green Party members, supporters, volunteers, party staffers and his political colleagues.

To his first co-leader, Metiria Turei, Shaw said she had been an inspiration: “Thank you for putting your faith in me in my early days. That meant everything to me.”

To his second co-leader, Marama Davidson, Shaw said they were the only people who knew what it was like to be them: “Thank you for your partnership, your leadership and for teaching me so much these last six years”.

To his colleagues across the aisle, Shaw paid special mention to former National Party leader Todd Muller for “his integrity, commitment and candour”.

Shaw then acknowledged Dame Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson, sharing brief stories about his interactions with both senior Labour figures.

“It was an honour and a pleasure to work with Grant in Government, including a term as his Associate Finance Minister. In my experience, he is one of the most decent, principled and thoughtful people I have ever met and the most talented politician of my generation.”

On Ardern, he said: “I remember meeting a promising youth-adjacent Labour candidate in 2008, when we were both living in London and campaigning for the expat vote for our respective parties.

“At the time, she was president of the International Union of Socialist Youth. I said I didn’t realise socialists were still allowed into the Labour Party.

“Serving in Jacinda Ardern’s Government was the privilege of my lifetime. She is a woman of humility, service, intelligence and integrity.

“Jacinda and Grant were the best of us.”

He looked back on the tumultuous election results the Greens have seen over successive elections, concluding, “in my entirely objective and unbiased assessment, the Greens are now in better shape than we have ever been”.

‘Consensus is fraying, the framework is being quietly sabotaged’

Shaw used his speech to warn of the risk New Zealand would “collapse into the climate culture wars that we see in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere”.

“Pressure is building and the consensus is already fraying,” he said.

“Some... partisans sit in this House. Some of them are now Government ministers. The framework is being quietly sabotaged, subtly undermined.”

He spoke of what legacy he left, but said “that word makes me nervous”.

“Because the politics and policy of climate change isn’t about me. It’s about people who won’t be born for decades. The only true legacy we can leave is to cherish the world we’ve been given and to bequeath a better one for our descendants.”

On Sunday, Shaw reflected on the tougher moments of his time in office.

He admitted he came close to throwing in the towel several times when he met resistance to climate change reform.

He served as the previous Government’s Climate Change Minister for six years before being appointed Associate Environment Minister in Labour’s second term, when he oversaw biodiversity.

Former Green Party co-leader James Shaw gives his last speech in Parliament on May 1, 2024. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Shaw had declined to answer questions during previous interviews about whether he had ever threatened to quit while serving as a minister.

He expressed his public frustration with the pace of advancement with his coalition partner while serving as co-leader.

However, as he prepared to give his departing speech this week, he was candid with Jack Tame on TVNZ’s Q&A.

Shaw said there were times when he was “really close” to calling it quits.

“There were a few times, the two most significant ones would’ve been when we were debating increasing our Paris [the 2030] target, prior to the Glasgow conference,” Shaw said.

“The other one was the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity, which is currently getting unwound.

“But that got really difficult, and I ended up storming out of the Cabinet meeting that decided it. Three minutes later, David Parker materialised in my office to say, ‘Look, we’re gonna work out a way to get this done’.”

He said he told minister Megan Woods his resignation letter was written out and he would hand it in if it went through.

“That programme, indigenous biodiversity, something in absolute crisis. We’d gone 30 years without national direction on it - there had been a number of attempts.”

Former Greens co-leader James Shaw said he came close to quitting during his career. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Shaw was a major force behind the previous Government’s climate change policies while serving as minister.

Shaw told Q&A he thought the Zero Carbon Act had passed its “first acid test” by withstanding the change in administration.

Act promised during the election campaign to repeal the law. Shaw did, however, express confidence that the National Party was dedicated to maintaining it.

The former co-leader acknowledged that he was unable to force through all of the legislative measures he wanted, including the pricing of agricultural emissions.

“First of all, I think we’ve got the way we organised ourselves, wrong. We needed single-point accountability inside the Government.

“We should probably have parked the work with the Treasury, rather than with the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry for the Environment, because the kind of tensions between those agencies was a big part of the problem.”