Archive for May, 2011

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  General debate, May 19, 2011 - by frog

  
  
  
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  May 19, 2011 8:04 am - 38 Comments
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  Twits send in their economic vision for NZ - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I was given a ticket for a person to watch the Budget speeches live in Parliament tomorrow so thought I’d run an experiment. I tweeted that I’d give the ticket to someone who shared their personal economic vision for New Zealand with me online. Sure it wasn’t a Play Station 3 or a bike as [...] read more
  May 18, 2011 8:28 pm - 4 Comments
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  Podcast: Green Budget 2011 - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Tomorrow is Budget day…and it’s looking rather bleak. John Key has signalled that this Budget is, and can only be about reining in spending through budget cuts. Lots of them. Some of them severe. But is this the only way forward from here? The Green Party have put together a package of alternative Budget initiatives [...] read more
  May 18, 2011 7:13 pm - 1 Comment
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  National Standards – fake it till you make it? - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Some school principals have revealed that they are getting some interesting advice from the Ministry of Education about how to incorporate the National Standards into their school charters. The suggestion that they should essentially fake it – by inserting the words “national standards” into their charters, even if they are not actively using them – [...] read more
  May 18, 2011 2:30 pm - 4 Comments
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  Hansen “climate change a moral issue” - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Last night, along with several hundred other concerned Wellingtonians, I attended Dr. James Hansen’s lecture on climate change. James Hansen is an esteemed atmospheric physicist, and has been called the ‘grandfather of climate change’. Evidently his reputation preceded him as the crowd packed out two lecture theatres at Victoria University’s Law School. One of the [...] read more
  May 17, 2011 8:48 pm - 9 Comments
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  MacDoctor and me: We agree and disagree on ACC - by frog

  
  
  
  Medical practitioner and right wing blogger MacDoctor has three recent posts on the disastrous failings of ACC to provide entitlements to injured claimants. I couldn’t agree more with MacDoctor’s definition of the problem. But I disagree vehemently with his faux solution of privatisation. read more
  May 17, 2011 7:11 pm - 2 Comments
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  Our alternative Green Budget - by frog

  
  
  
  We have choices this Budget day. We can choose to use the deficit crisis as a reason to cut and sell and leave the economy no different from the place we were in when things went wrong. Or we can use the crisis to begin the transition to a more sustainable, prosperous, and fair economy. [...] read more
  May 17, 2011 10:53 am - 31 Comments
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  On tour with welfare - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Since March, I have been travelling to different communities to discuss issues of welfare justice in light of the Welfare Working Group‘s final report which suggests major reforms to our welfare system. So far I have met with people in Rotorua, Whangarei, Waihi and Turanga (Gisborne). Many of the people attending the meetings are community [...] read more
  May 16, 2011 4:19 pm - 13 Comments
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  Stop the lignite-mare - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Lignite is at the New Zealand coal-face of the environmental crisis. It is well and truly on the agenda with top climate scientist James Hansen, currently touring NZ, urging us to keep the coal in the hole. State-owned Enterprise Solid Energy and the L&M Group are currently either planning or at the permitting stage (behind [...] read more
  May 16, 2011 11:13 am - 11 Comments
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  Need for War Crimes Investigation in Sri Lanka - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  It’s pleasing to see Foreign Minister Murray McCully has responded positively to my Parliamentary Question asking if he would support the call by a UN Secretary General’s Panel calling for an independent international investigation into credible allegations of human rights violations during the Sri Lankan civil war, “some of which would amount to war crimes [...] read more
  May 16, 2011 8:55 am - 3 Comments
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  SAS present 35 times when prisoners taken, but minister dodges any responsibility for their welfare - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Denials that our SAS troops could be handing Afghan prisoners over to torture are getting less and less credible. The government claims that on joint operations with the Afghan Crisis Response Unit our boys don’t take any prisoners. Last year, when I asked the NZ Defence Force about this – during a Select Committee hearings [...] read more
  May 15, 2011 3:28 pm - 8 Comments
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  Right wrong on the youth minimum wage - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  There is a renewed push from the political right to reintroduce youth rates for the minimum wage.  ACT’s Roger Douglas is trying to blame the Green Party sponsored legislation that removed the ability of Government to set a lower rate of minimum wage for young people for today’s high youth unemployment.  ACT’s new Leader, Don [...] read more
  May 15, 2011 10:45 am - 30 Comments
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  Government’s transport funding plans just silly - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  A while ago the Herald wrote an editorial about the Government’s transport plans for Auckland. They observed that if you define insanity as doing the same thing again and again while expecting a different outcome, then the Government’s transport policies are insane. While I was reading the Government Policy Statement on Transport Funding last week [...] read more
  May 15, 2011 8:44 am - 13 Comments
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  General debate, May 15, 2011 - by frog

  
  
  
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  May 15, 2011 7:22 am - 60 Comments
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  People-powered train - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I’ve just alighted from a 100-person walking train I organised down Queen St in Auckland, travelling the route of the proposed, but as yet unfunded, CBD Rail Loop. We stopped at the site of the possible Aotea Square rail station for speeches next to the statue of Mayor Dove Myer-Robinson, which was appropriate considering this [...] read more
  May 14, 2011 7:49 pm - No Comments
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  James Hansen on National Radio - by frog

  
  
  
  One of the best known climate scientists in the world was interviewed by Kim Hill this morning. You can listen to the interview at http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/sat/2011/05/14/james_hansen_climate_science or download an mp3 or ogg file. They discussed many things over 45 minutes but the things that really stood out for me were the discussions about what the science [...] read more
  May 14, 2011 11:45 am - 92 Comments
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  The real costs of Hide’s mismanagement of SuperCity - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Usually we are all a bit pleased if our predictions are proved in time to be right.  But in this instance I would have been happier to be wrong!  Last December I blogged about the train wreck that was already in progress within Auckland City’s staffing, as good skilled people the Council could ill-afford to [...] read more
  May 12, 2011 12:24 pm - 2 Comments
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  Submissions to Auckland Spatial Plan Discussion - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Calling all Jafas! – and all those others who care about the future shape and form of our Queen city.  I have run a couple of meetings this week to inform and encourage people to make a submission to Auckland Unleashed, the discussion document that will influence the Spatial Plan.  There is a lot in the document that [...] read more
  May 12, 2011 11:16 am - No Comments
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  General debate, May 12, 2011 - by frog

  
  
  
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  May 12, 2011 8:14 am - 35 Comments
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  Happy International Nurses Day - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Happy International Nurses Day to all nurses in New Zealand. And happy birthday Florence Nightingale, whose influence on the nursing profession was profound, and who would have been 191 today. The theme of International Nurses Day 2011 is increasing access and equity, and it is particularly timely. Next week’s budget will see cuts across a [...] read more
  May 12, 2011 1:20 am - 10 Comments