Former Greens Co-Leader James Shaw on why the party should consider working with National in future, why he's been called a "tree Tory", and what he's got planned after politics.

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James Shaw has bowed out of politics after nearly 10 years as co-leader of the Green Party. He took the Greens into cabinet for the first time and wrestled with the future of the planet as climate change minister.

Last year the Greens gained 15 MPs - their biggest caucus ever. But James Shaw leaves Parliament with his party reeling from a series of resignations and scandals, and questions about whether it's become too close to Labour and strayed too far from its mission.

The state of New Zealand right now

"I think we're going through a rough patch, as a country and as a planet, and so I think that's a vibe check on how people are feeling right now, rather than a statement of what's factually so. You know, I have a bit of a dark view of where things are at right now as well."

"It's going to be a bit of a cliché, but I scan the news, and I see what the current government is up to, and I've been sitting 10 metres across the aisle from them whilst they've been doing it over the course of the last six months, and a lot of it appals me.

But I'm also really conscious that these things are temporary. Inflation is temporary; the state of Global Affairs waxes and wanes over time. We go through periods of high unemployment, low unemployment, and so on. So, if you try to take a long arc of history view, some of those things become, in some ways, less significant, because they are always there in one form or another."

"I think that there are things that we have not been paying attention to for some decades - infrastructure, increasing inequality in terms of socio-economic stratification, and so on. But I also think that we're a more progressive, much more multicultural, more tolerant, more inclusive society than we were 40 years ago."

Are you optimistic about our country's future?

Yeah, I am.

The health of the Green Party

"The most recent polls have had us on about 14%, which is a historic high watermark. And yes, I know it's been an incredibly rough year. You've talked about resignations and scandals, but actually, the death of Efeso Collins was really the greatest blow, and has been very, very hard for our caucus and for our staff. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details