The Green Party has a positive vision for supporting all children to get the public education they need. It is based on concepts of equity and quality and support for the cultures of all our communities. We utterly reject the concept of unregistered teachers, business models in schools and the lack of scrutiny that the Bill sets up. John Banks claims to be the champion of Māori students despite ACT’s inability to support collective benefits for any community, let alone tangata whenua.

Hekia Parata is also chanting the mantra of choice without answering the serious questions around accountability, quality and the lack of evidence that Charters can deliver even the narrow vision of the National/ACT Government. Their constant cry is that flexibility and innovation are impossible within the state system and they are silent as to why kura kaupapa Māori education is not being supported. Do they ever visit schools and kura and listen?

The Green Party will be promoting a positive vision between now and the election which focuses on quality public education and proven successes such as kura kaupapa and Te Kotahitanga that address inequity and bias. We won’t be supporting secret contracts and teaching staff with no registration. We think all children deserve access to the best we can offer not failed imported models.

Tui has been at the top of a list of contaminated sites for many years, partially due to the real risk of the collapse of the waste dump onto the community below. Finally after many years of campaigning and lobbying, the clean-up process for this ‘orphan’ toxic site was initiated.

Over the last three years, the Green Party has worked with the Government to ensure funding to stabilise the site and at least partially neutralise the underground toxic leachate with lime.

Last week I attended an event marking the end of the clean-up. On the mountain I joined tangata whenua Ngāti Tumutumu and Ngāti Hako, people from the Hauraki iwi, local and regional authorities, the contractors, and local residents for this celebration of progress. The site has been hugely improved through the stabilisation and processing of the tailings waste into a solid mix and the work on the mine water quality. This cost central and local government $21 million.

On-going monitoring and re-application of lime to the contaminated water will continue to be important and the Greens will stay actively involved with the regional council as they carry out this work. The iwi are developing a cultural monitoring plan to continue the healing of the mountain, including work to restore the mauri (life force) of the affected waterways.

Overall, it was a very positive achievement and good to work with two Ministers for the Environment to get this progress. The lessons we can learn from Tui are simple.

• Don’t let foreign miners run away from their pollution.
• Don’t mine our mountains for metals that could otherwise be mined from scrap metal yards and used cell phones.
• Respect tangata whenua when they tell us not to damage their sacred places.
•  Above all else love and protect our maunga and our water!

The 1^st of May marked 50 years of West Papua suffering under Indonesian rule. Citizens throughout Papua prepared to commemorate this day, however, events that occurred just prior to this date, typify and  highlight the injustices that Papuans have suffered over the past 50 years.

On the 30^th of April two young West Papuan protestors who were preparing to participate in commemoration events were shot and killed by police while a number of others were injured in the city of Sorong, This is an atrocious abuse of state power. I have urged the New Zealand Government to condemn the police actions and demand that Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono takes action.

He must stop state violence immediately and engage in dialogue for peace and justice in West Papua.  The Indonesian Police have a documented history of citizen abuse and the New Zealand Government cannot be silent or indeed collude via our new proposed “community policing” training programme.

International concern has been voiced over the May 1^st events including a statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. Pillay has described the police shootings as “[an] unfortunate example of the on-going suppression of freedom of expression and excessive use of force in West Papua.”

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The criteria in fact are high falutin requirements that the minister making the appointment needs to consider.

They include that the person:

a)    Has an understanding of current race relations in New Zealand, and of the origins and development of those relations:

b)    Has an appreciation of issues or trends in race relations arising in other countries or internationally, and of the relevance of those issues or trends for New Zealand.

The criteria Justice Minister Judith Collins was working from appear to be quite different.

They include that the person:

a)     Is a famous sports person.

b)     See (a).

Basically to be in the running it would be an advantage to be a runner, or a rugby player or a netball player or a squash player.

One News reported last night that rugby great Michael Jones and netballer Irene van Dyk were shortlisted for the position before it was given to Dame Susan Devoy.

Apparently van Dyk made it to the interview stage, while Jones was offered the job but decided against it.

Those people sound like they might be quite talented and able and perhaps they should flick a CV off to Sport New Zealand.

Sure being well-known is an advantage and excelling at sports does show grit and determination. In fact the Human Rights Act does highlight leadership as a good characteristic to have. But it did also mention a couple of pesky little attributes about a depth of knowledge and understanding of race relations that these candidates have not demonstrated.

Were previous ministers wrong to think it would be good if candidates could bring their prior experience and knowledge to the job; could undertake inquiries, respond to complaints and report on race relations in New Zealand from a position of understanding?

Is it better to present a famous smiling face on race relations in New Zealand to create a cheery picture of race relations that doesn’t reflect the pain and suffering of those who face discrimination?

I hope Dame Susan seizes this challenge and learns what she needs to do the job. I hope too though that the Minister can reflect on this appointment and look hard at her motivation for scouring the country for sportspeople to take the lead role on race relations in Aotearoa.

Te Kotahitanga was developed by Russel Bishop, Mere Berryman and a team at Waikato University to help teachers become culturally responsive and inclusive. More than 40 schools have used the programme and for those who have sustained it the results have been remarkable. A crude measure is the NCEA results and for some schools student achievement for Level Two NCEA has jumped from around 30 percent to 70 percent success.

The programme is based on an intense and positive process which helps teachers reflect on their practice and listens to student feedback to build constructive classroom relationships. The key has been a schools based facilitator to help sustain the programme in the schools. Some teachers have discovered that their monocultural bias has been invisible to them and that even with the best will in the world they have been marginalising some students.

Te Kotahitanga has been transformative for all parties, so the Government has cut it and is introducing a new programme called “Building on Success” which does include some of the core ideas of Te Kotahitanga but misses out the costly but essential element of a facilitator based in the school. It will be cheaper but less effective, which is false economy given the Government’s supposed commitment to Maori and Pasifika students who benefit the most from the programme.

I have visited the initiators of Te Kotahitanga and read their research. The Greens support this critical intervention. We think investing in kura kaupapa Maori and Te Kotahitanga are two vital ways to really build on success, not Charter Schools or cuts to the key elements of a programme that works.

In McGregor Bay in Coromandel Harbour a company called Sea Holdings have a permit to explore ans have expressed their hope to mine the gold and silver in the sediment in this Schedule 4 area. Nick Smith, Gerry Brownlee and Simon Bridges say they just looking at these areas as part of a wider survey of where minerals and coal might be found. However it is clear from miners statements they expect to be able to mine. The Government is either not being straight up with the miners or with the public.

In addition to this erosion a mining company called “Broken Hills” is seeking an actual mining permit in Schedule 4, conservation land at Tairua on the Coromandel. Simon Bridges won’t tell me what he intends to do with this permit but it is clearly illegal. The Government cannot be trusted to protect Schedule 4 so we need to renew our pressure on them to keep the promise, leave Schedule 4 areas alone, lets love them and protect them!

The inherent racism behind her remarks is a serious issue in Europe which has seen some of the best organised atrocities committed against cultural diversity in the history of our world. No culture can claim superiority, only a unique history and all cultures have dark shadows as well as glorious contributions to the betterment of people. It is however bizarre to hear a visiting politician attempt to justify her racist reactions to a powhiri as lost in translation. We have our own local white supremacists and we have a very difficult colonial context and hopefully none of us would go to Denmark and make derogatory comments about their warrior traditions.

The irony of the situation is that powhiri is unique and powerful for visitors who embrace it. I cannot speak about the cultural meaning but I can say that my experience of powhiri has always been humbling. From the karanga to the hakari there is so much opportunity for learning, feeling, bridge building and trust. The experience of moving from stranger to whānau is a human need if we are to have peaceful dialogue. The absolute privilege of living in Aotearoa New Zealand includes the opportunity to participate in meaningful rituals of community building. For me,  powhiri  feels like an essentially civilising process that values the individuals within the groups and allows a sharing of breath and minds. Once the platform has been created the exchange can safely begin.

The banners highlighted the issues of a dirty energy source being used to fuel an industry which claims to be greening itself.

The local community and Auckland Coal Action are convinced that there are better alternatives to coal fired milk factories.

The Green Party supports Mangatawhiri people and other activists calling for a better way.

Some of the species that call the Denniston Plateau home. Source: Forest and Bird

However the decision then goes on to suggest that “appropriate and robust” conditions could address the risks to biodiversity. We are not convinced that any conditions on an open cast mine could mitigate the reality of a large hole dug deep into this unique ecosystem.

There are some places where the mining is a bad idea. A coal mine in the heart of the iconic Denniston area is a bad idea that many New Zealanders oppose. New Zealanders love our unique and awesome wild places and want to see them protected.

We will continue to call on all decision makers to refuse Bathurst Mines attempts to mine it.

Maori Television sent their own film crew to Brazil to tell the story of these abused people some of whom have been living on the side of the road next to their stolen lands for 14 years.

John Key was recently in Brazil on a trade mission, I wonder if such issues were discussed?

Tragic as this story is I am very grateful that Māori Television are proactive, globally aware and using their resources to tell the important stories that we all need to see and hear.

What is the take home message from a Government when the new Commissioner has no discernible background except she was once a minority on a male dominated Board?

Being a minority on a Board when you are a world champion at squash is not the same as being treated a minority every day in your own country because of your cultural background.

If the Government were committed to addressing racism they had plenty of choice, there are many people who work in the field of bridge building between he cultures. The previous Race Relations Commissioner’s were generally highly experienced, high calibre moderates who tried to bring clarity and positivity to the mine field of our cultural misunderstandings and dominant culture prejudices against difference.

It is a complicated job requiring a depth of understanding that Ms Devoy’s public comments so far do not demonstrate.

Judith Collins says many New Zealanders will support Susan’s views of Waitangi. However I am hoping when the new Commissioner settles into the job and receives the barrage of hurts and conflicts and complex misunderstandings she might reassess her views of the need for a founding document based on peace and respectful relationships.

She might grasp the point of addressing painful histories with bravery and honesty and she might step out of her comfort zone and take a more sophisticated and nuanced view than she has so far expressed.

But the Government must be challenged for this appointment. Does it suit them to have human rights commissioner who could continue l undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi and foster a shallow nationalism?

We are now a country of many cultures and we have unfinished business with colonialism. There is a younger generation who value Te Tiriti and diversity, there are new migrants hungry for cultural knowledge of their new land and there are some entrenched prejudices against Te Tiriti and diversity.

Susan Devoy said on Radio NZ that it was not very a very complicated job. After 20 years teaching Te Tiriti o Waitangi with many New Zealanders I challenge that assumption. It is very rewarding work to take on racism but it is also very complicated indeed.

If we are talking about certainty my Bill is a great idea. It providers a certainty that polluting waterways and the ocean under the RMA Section 107 2a “: exceptional circumstances” clause for more than 5 years will not be an option. What 21^st century developer would want such an option? If we want to foster certainty and innovation we will ensure legislation that fosters that approach and not the Straterra bizarre bargain. One dirty river in exchange for cleaning up your industry’s previous mess? I don’t think so. The beauty of my Bill is that a clear line gets drawn and it still allows local authorities some leeway for wastewater and storm water improvements and negotiations. This view was expressed by the Otago Regional Council who made a brief and crisp submission in favour of the Bill. They simply said the Bill was needed to end gross pollution of waterways and they fully support it!

Jeanette Fitzsimons explained how people could submit on the proposed Fonterra mine, but Thursday night was also about the bigger picture in terms of coal and its contribution to climate change. Climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger showed us the weather map both globally and nationally and it’s looking ugly. The local drought is bad enough, but Jim gave us a real reminder of the role of coal in climate change and its impacts. Dr Wendy Ring who is a local medical doctor presented on the issues around climate change and new illnesses as well as  coal dust and our lungs.

The mine is one of a number of coal mines on the plains and Fonterra is a big consumer of coal. Fonterra claims to be a modern company but they won’t be using wood waste as an alternative, which could gradually replace burning this fossil fuel. It is very disappointing to see the lack of leadership from this industry giant.

Meanwhile the locals are frustrated by the proposal to turn their quiet farms and lifestyle blocks into a noisy industrial zone. They are keen to object but they are in a hard spot. Fonterra can afford experts who will tell us that dust and noise and blasting will all be within international standards and limits. Ask the people in Waihi affected by the open cast mine how well that has worked. A woman told me that she lives right next to the proposed Fonterra mine and her husband is already unwell with lead poisoning. She is deeply worried, as she should be. I told the meeting that the Green Party thinks resource consent conditions should be designed to protect the most vulnerable citizens, but that is not how it works under the law.

So the people of Mangatawhiri are getting organised against the mine with the support of a great group called AK Coal Action. The local marae reminded us that although once they would have supported a mine for jobs it would create, they are now more concerned about future generations.

Keep the coal in the hole!

On Monday I visited four schools in Christchurch.

The  Aranui schools were all looking at options that could work such as combining Aranui High with Aranui Primary and Wainoni Primary without forcing the closure of Chisnallwood Intermediate and Avondale Primary. They hope the Minister will really listen to local voices and support their parents’ concerns about supersizing.

In the course of the day it emerged that Lesley Longstone was getting a big pay out and also that Hekia Parata had been warned by her own Ministry that decisions on Christchurch schools were premature due to the absence of reliable demographic data.

Meanwhile back in Aranui, Phillipstown and at several intermediates Principals were sweating over submissions to the Minister that were trying to justify their existence.

The Aranui schools were looking at options that could work such as combining Aranui High with Aranui Primary and Wainoni Primary without forcing the closure of Chisnallwood Intermediate and Avondale Primary.

Today they’ll be hoping the Minister will finally listen to local voices and support their parents concerns about supersizing.

The impressions of each school were very different but there were common themes.

Schools and communities want to be part of good decision making based on robust data. They want evidence based decision making not generalised rhetoric about “modern learning environments”.

 Everyone seemed genuinely open to change but not if that meant their school would be closed based on loose and incomplete information and assumptions. For example, Philipstown School has a primary roll of 159 and is being treated as a small school, but 1100 students use their technology block from all over East Christchurch.

Phillipstown has assessment data showing Maori and Pasifika students are well above the expectations of National Standards in literacy and numeracy. The school is incredibly well networked in terms of social agency support, grandmothers volunteering, breakfast club and after school services and a Community Centre on site.

This takes years of work to develop and so, when the Principal was told they were likely to close, he shed some tears in front of the school. He was told off for this by the Ministry. But this man is not a robot. His school has great support because he cares very deeply about his community.

He has the total support of his Board of Trustees and they are not ready to be merged into a school some distance away. One parent has already told him they simply can’t afford the bus fares.

Behind the emotion is the call for logical explanations. If schools have great ERO reports, stable rolls, and are recovering from only minor damage, then of course they’re not eager to close.  They want a fair go. They also want to make sure that the whole process is driven by what is best for their pupils. Not what’s convenient for the Government.

As one principal put it: If the Minister was so convinced that moving these children was a good idea, she should have made sure these supposedly beautiful new facilities they’ll be getting were built first. No one wants kids on new sites in prefabs and relocatables at the end of this year.
Everyone I spoke with was willing to compromise but they want change based on local knowledge, not desktop social engineering and supersizing without evidence it will help students thrive.

After kai the press conference, a sea of cameras in a small whare. Tame sits with his son, Hone Harawira and his lawyer Russel Fairbrother. The kōrero is in Te Reo and English. He speaks of the connections between Waikato and Tuhoe, his whakapapa, the battle at Orakau where Tuhoe came to support Ngāti Maniapoto against the colonial forces. He speaks of the failed justice system today and the jails full of young Māori men. He has had 9 months to read, paint and work.

“Are you angry about what has happened to you?”
“Not at all, turn a new page”

He speaks about the work of Tamati Kruger and the mana motuhake of Tuhoe, the work to for the return of Te Urewera. Looking at him I have memories that go back to the 1990’s when he supported our Greenpeace campaign to clean up the Tarawera River. I remember a day at Lake Waikaremoana when he and other whānau were protesting the pollution of the Lake and DOC accused them of having an illegal chicken in a National Park.

This colourful, dramatic personality is also a man who missed his whānau and his little dog, who loves cycling and getting fit. He was imprisoned for illegal firearms although he threatened no one. His people were watched and then attacked by armed masked police and the apology is yet to be given.

The last media questions are about will he be camping in the bush? This is rather hilarious because Te Urewera is all bush and that is where he lives.

The conference is over as the whānau have to travel home via Rotorua, they have people waiting. The sun is high in the sky as I drive away and the words from Orakau which ring in my ears but very peacefully “Ka whaiwhai tonu mātou, ake ake, ake”.

A new study by the WHO has alarming news that over 800 chemicals are known or suspected to be EDCs (endocrine disrupting chemicals). Our endocrine system is our hormone system, which means that ECDs are capable of interfering with hormone receptors. As you can imagine, messing with the hormone system can have negative consequences. The WHO report links ECDs to increasing rates of cancer and other health problems such as infertility and asthma.

Scarily, ECDs are often in common household products such as hair products, some skin care products, dry cleaning, and cleaning products. The frightening truth is emerging around chemicals like Triclosan which can be found in some deodorants and anti-bacterial soaps and has serious risks to the food chain. When we wash products with Triclosan down the sink, can enter our chlorinated sewage systems and this leads to the creation of harmful dioxins.

Often product labelling can help people avoid these harmful chemicals but first you have to know what they are. Given that there are hundreds of them, sometimes with complex formula and brand names, this is a difficult task. Even more worrisome is the fact that some 145,000 chemicals are yet to be tested for their hormone disrupting properties.

The Green Party would suggest that people do their best to buy genuinely safe eco products when they can afford them. We suggest that every household checks out what cleaning and personal care products you are regularly buying and keep a sharp eye out for greenwashing and false marketing. For a start avoid any product containing Triclosan, Bisphenol A or Cyclomethicone.

A green approach to chemistry is needed and the Government need to change the way they assess hazardous chemicals based on the serious issues in this WHO report.

A number of schools such as Central New Brighton and Branston Intermediate had been clearly told they would have until the end of 2014 to prepare for merger or closure. The announcement on Monday ripped away this promise, reducing the window of time to just one year from now.

It is not rocket science to calculate the influence of the election date on this decision. However it is disturbing when the Minister of Education claims she made no promises, just “proposals”. She speaks as if she had gone to the schools with no more than an idea that two years, not one, might be the timeframe.

As Minister, her word has power. These schools heard her say they would have two years to prepare, if on the list for merger or closure. They didn’t hear some vague suggestion and they hang on her every word because their life does depend on it.

The Government has to stop kicking these people when they are already down. They are recovering and every time I go to Christchurch I see the progress in rebuilding and restoring communities. Unlike the school closures it is quite slow but steady.

On the closures; the Ministry keeps placing schools in invidious positions, which hurt and confuse families around enrollment and stability. One example of this is the proposal to ask the two kura in Christchurch which one will move to north Christchurch. How are these kura and whānau supposed to decide this, when both have spent many years building up their kura on these sites and connecting to the whenua?

Some things are not easily transportable, such as a deep history and local relationships.

What are the parents of the closing intermediate school students supposed to do now?

There are no such worries for the students and their families at Wanganui Collegiate; the newly integrated elite school. They have a commitment of $5 million per year from the Government, not just a proposal!

Another hot afternoon and a stadium full of homemade banners. I saw the pride and hurt on the faces of schools facing closure for reasons they could not fathom. I stood for a few minutes with the man who runs the Community Centre at Phillipstown School. They have been marked for closure and with them the community centre, the breakfast programme the solidarity. He told me there was no space between this school and its community, they were one. I spoke to a Board member from New Brighton Central School. They are being forcibly merged within a year and they thought they had a lot more time, they are gutted.

I hung out with some families from schools who had survived, they were here to support everyone else, they were not convinced this “rejuvenation” would be limited to Christchurch, they issued a warning to the rest of the country. Angry school principals and staff spoke briefly at the stadium along with the NZEI, then we marched to the Ministry of Education to deliver a vote of no confidence. About 1500 people marched and chanted. One little red haired boy was chanting “John Key is a tool, he is trying to close my school”. We couldn’t really disagree with his passion.

The people at this rally are very clear. They have had enough of imposed change, they are angry at the speed of the closures and mergers announced yesterday. They cannot find a logic to many of the decisions that have been made. They believe they are entitled to respect and logic instead of cost cutting and supersizing. The intermediates feel picked on as an easy target. They think the speed of change relates to the election agenda of the Government. People here love their communities and schools for good reason. They are trying to be heard and will accept a reasoned argument, a careful negotiation for evidence based change. This is still not it!

The Auckland day was hosted by the hard working “Indonesian Human Rights Committee.”

Wellington also went very well despite the lack of co-operation from the new Speaker David Carter and the predictable refusal to meet Benny Wenda from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Jennifer Robinson and Benny Wenda at the media briefing

The media forum which was effectively banned from parliament was well attended and only a robot would have not have been moved by Benny Wenda’s story of his childhood under Indonesian military rule and his experiences in prison.

Benny also stole our hearts with his musical performance while Jennifer Robinson laid out the political and legal position with great clarity. The call for independence for West Papua is clearly a call for peaceful change and respect for all citizens.

The international legal case against the colonisation of West Papua is simple. The Indonesians justified their occupation by a bogus referendum of about 1000 people at the point of a gun, the United Nations stood by while West Papua was appropriated for gold, timber and empire by Indonesia.

The situation today remains a disaster with state violence, hunger, political killing and torture and no access by international media or the International Red Cross. Benny Wenda initiated the International parliamentarians for West Papua a group of which I am a proud member as arer number of Green MPs locally and internationally. He is relying on our solidarity to keep the pressure on Indonesian for a peaceful dialogue.

It was great having MPs Maryan Street and Hone Harawira supporting the Wellington visit and showing their commitment to this issue being brought to light despite the appalling decisions by the Speaker and the Minsiter of Foreign Affairs.

Mana leader Hone Harawira and Labour MP Maryan Street join Benny Wenda, Jennifer Robinson and Catherine Delahunty on parliament’s steps.

It was also great to meet Dominic Brown maker of the film “Forgotten Bird of Paradise” made undercover in West papua who is travelling with Benny Wenda.

With some serious media coverage this week I am hopeful more New Zealanders have now heard of the situation in  West Papua and will support the Green challenge to the Government to work for a peace dialogue between west Papuan leaders and the Indonesian Government.

About half the Green MPs and a team of local and regional volunteers collected more than 500 signatures in a single hour.

Downtown Invercargill may not be as heavily populated as downtown Auckland, or Wellington, but I have never met such a supportive and friendly group of random strangers.

Collecting at Waitangi on Waitangi Day was also fantastically successful, but then it is a political event and people expect both petitions and debate.

People were instantly responsive to the words “asset sales” and they were wishing us luck even though some who signed felt the Prime Minister was incapable of listening.

My best conversations were with the elderly who had strong memories of the failure of asset sales to benefit this country in the past, and the young who were like “this is just a stupid idea”. I had some lovely chats with young people outside a tattoo parlour, and Māori elders outside the chemist who were very concerned about water rights but also about the impact on the whole country. Whole families were getting $10.00 haircuts and parents were very much against asset sales. There is a slow friendly vibration under the open skies of the deep South, but make no mistake about it: they are keen to be asset keepers. Back at the Policy Conference we compared notes and everyone had been well received and welcomed on this kaupapa.

We were inspired by Invercargill.