The Green Party's leadership issues will not go unnoticed by the Labour hierarchy.
Whoever leads the Greens could have a direct impact on Labour's ability to form a Government at the General Election next year.
Labour's recent polling struggles have left the party slightly behind National and reliant on a coalition to form a Government, NZ Herald senior political correspondent Thomas Coughlan tells the Front Page podcast.
"Disruption to the left is probably not good," he says.
"Labour has this centrist gravitational pull within it and they believe that voters don't really like left-wing governments that pivot further to the left."
The concern now is that whoever replaces Shaw has the potential to pull the perception of the coalition out of that centrist position.
"Labour will be concerned that if the Green Party does decide to put someone in that's further left, then voters will be concerned about Labour going into Government next term with only a far-left party as its coalition partner. They'll be concerned that that could mean that voters turn their backs on Labour and potentially elect a National Government because they're afraid of what Labour plus a far-left party might do."
In many ways, this also captures the internal struggle that's led to the Green Party's current leadership battle.
While Shaw is regarded as someone who has broad appeal across the political spectrum, some see that as part of the problem with him.
"There is a group in the party called the Green Left Network – and they are the most leftwing members of the party. They are the closest thing to what you would describe as a faction of people, broadly speaking, who have been most dissatisfied with Shaw's leadership. They're the keenest to see if someone else wants to give it a crack."
Coughlan says this doesn't seem to be a consolidated effort within the party throwing its support behind a candidate to challenge Shaw, but rather a diverse group of delegates believing it was time for a change.
It's worth noting, the contingent that wants Shaw out remains smaller than the group in support of his leadership. He still had the support of 75 of 107 delegates who voted and could have met the threshold if all 150 delegates participated.
Coughlan says that some of the frustration has emerged because of the tension between Shaw's dual roles as a Minister within the Labour Government and as the co-leader of the Green Party.
"As a party working with Government with Ministers, you are signing up to certain parts of collective cabinet responsibility and tying yourself to a Government that's led by a party that doesn't necessarily think the way that your party does. That will ultimately do things that aggravate your party membership."
The alternative would have been for the Greens to remain in opposition, giving them more space to be ideologically true to what they believe in. The counter-argument to this is that there is value in being part of the Government and being able to shape policy that actually comes to fruition.
The problem, of course, is that Shaw has been operating in the confines of the Labour Government, which has the power to do as it pleases regardless of what Shaw says.
"He doesn't really have a mechanism to use to go further than they already are on climate change, because, ultimately, how far the Government wants to go on climate change is based on what Labour wants to do."
The question now is whether the Party believes it's time for someone willing to push back harder, even if it means sacrificing the more collaborative approach that Shaw has fostered.
• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
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