Featured Archive

Greens take on MFAT at cricket - by Gareth Hughes

The test match between New Zealand and England currently drawing to a close is proving an absolute rip snorter as cricketing purists would say. Another game of cricket occurred on the weekend. A game only slightly less passionately fought out. The annual Parliament 11 vs MFAT cricket match. This year I joined a team that [...] read more
March 26, 2013 4:12 pm - 1 Comment
First blind Scottish MP visits NZ - by Mojo Mathers

I had the privilege of meeting with Dennis Robertson, a Member of the Scottish Parliament who made waves by being the first blind person elected to that office. In common with myself and other elected representatives around the world with a significant sensory impairment, he needs appropriate support to be able to carry out his [...] read more
February 20, 2013 4:18 pm - 1 Comment
Benny Wenda’s Freedom Tour a great success - by Catherine Delahunty

This week Benny Wenda from ‘Free West Papua’ and Jennifer Robinson of International lawyers for West Papua brought the “Freedom Tour” to Auckland and Wellington. 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 [...] read more
February 13, 2013 4:04 pm - 4 Comments
Reflections on Waitangi Day - by Catherine Delahunty

Waitangi this year had many highlights overlooked by the media. Metiria, Kennedy, Denise, David, myself and other young Greens and local volunteers spent two days in the sun, meeting all kinds of people and listening to the flaxroots and grassroots voices of our nation. David Clendon spoke extremely well in the powhiri for the Greens [...] read more
February 7, 2013 11:23 am - 6 Comments
Latest overseas investment decision ABBAsolutely stink - by Russel Norman

The Overseas Investment Office has just approved the sale of eight Waikato dairy farms comprising 3,205 hectares of land to a Swedish consortium. This decision follows last year’s contentious decision to allow Chinese Company Shanghai Pengxin to purchase the Crafar farms. The 16 Crafar farms comprised nearly 8000 hectares of farmland. An overseas purchaser must [...] read more
February 1, 2013 1:21 pm - 3 Comments
Cochlear implant funding should be based on need - by Mojo Mathers

It didn’t get much media coverage, but the recent announcement by the Government that they are increasing funding for cochlear implants for one year is a welcome one. Last year I tabled a petition in parliament from Lyn Polwort calling for more funding for adult cochlear implants to enable parity with other disabled NZ. I sat on [...] read more
January 31, 2013 12:46 pm - 5 Comments
Picnic for the Planet & campaign launch! - by Holly Walker

Our annual Picnic for the Planet was a great success yesterday, with great food, perfect weather, summer tunes, and an inspiring speech from co-leader Metiria Turei. Though I’d never admit it, as a staunch Wellingtonian, on days like yesterday in the beautiful Tahaki Reserve at the base of Mt Eden, I can see why people [...] read more
January 28, 2013 2:57 pm - No Comments
Home for life – Metiria Turei’s speech at Ratana - by Metiria Turei

Metiria Turei’s speech to the annual gathering to celebrate the birthday of the prophet, Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana 24th January, 2013 Tēnēi au e tu whakaiti nei i raro i a Ranginui, i runga i a Papatuānuku, e titiro kau ana ki ngā maunga whakahi me ngā tini uri o Tane. Ki Te Temepara Tapu, ki [...] read more
January 24, 2013 4:43 pm - 9 Comments
The Routeburn tunnel – National Parks or National disgrace? - by Eugenie Sage

Birdsong should not be replaced by the sound of diggers in our National Parks. Promoters claim that the Department of Conservation (DoC) will soon decide whether Milford Dart Ltd’s application for a proposed 11.3km private bus tunnel from the Glenorchy end of the Routeburn track to the Hollyford Valley near Te Anau goes ahead. Our six [...] read more
January 23, 2013 12:12 pm - 2 Comments
A tyred old problem: what to do with used tyres - by Denise Roche

This week a warrant was issued for the arrest of a man whose company has been fined almost $80,000 for dumping an estimated one million tyres at a Waikato property, Radio New Zealand reported. Used tyres are a problem to dispose of and tyre companies often pay people to dispose of them. Many people who obtain [...] read more
January 18, 2013 3:53 pm - 38 Comments
TPP Protest - by Catherine Delahunty

On Saturday afternoon I marched against the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) talks which are being held in secret. The crowd in Auckland was a great mix of tangata whenua, union networks, GE free New Zealanders, asset keepers and citizens who cannot be manipulated. The Greens and the Mana Party were the only MPs visible and [...] read more
December 11, 2012 1:52 pm - 86 Comments
Pike River, two years on - by Kevin Hague

At the Pike River memorial service held at our local racecourse on a hot, still day in the weeks following the disaster, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn, who has often had the knack of putting his finger exactly on how our local community is feeling, referred to the Paparoa Ranges towering beside us as “our [...] read more
November 19, 2012 12:54 pm - 11 Comments
UN must learn from Sri Lanka - by Kennedy Graham

It comes as no great surprise to discover that international agencies such as the United Nations were unable to protect civilians in the final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war according to a leaked report. The last few months of the civil war in Sri Lanka were every bit as bloody and violent as the [...] read more
November 14, 2012 4:59 pm - 4 Comments
The fight to save Gissy rail - by Julie Anne Genter

Getting accurate information and good decisions on transport at the moment is a bit like pulling teeth. It’s painful, frustrating and can be very pricey. This is why it was such good news to hear Gisborne City Councillor Manu Caddie telling Morning Report this week that nearly $14,000 has been raised to pay for an [...] read more
October 12, 2012 11:45 am - 28 Comments
Nat MP nails problem with youth rates - by Metiria Turei

(note: the above headline is not a typo) The statement below could very well be the basis for a future speech by an MP opposed to National’s legislation that will result in many young New Zealanders getting a pay cut. The fundamental proposition this bill puts up is that we need to pay people less [...] read more
October 10, 2012 11:49 am - 71 Comments
The damaging dollar – how to ease exporters and save jobs - by frog

As you might be aware, Russel floated a proposal in the weekend to address our high dollar which is damaging our exporters and manufacturers and costing kiwi’s jobs. We pulled together a brief Q&A to help explain the proposal. Why does getting the dollar down matter? Our dollar is over-valued because all our trading partners [...] read more
October 8, 2012 12:49 pm - 180 Comments
Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Annual Reports - by Russel Norman

The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Annual Reports are hard to find and don’t seem to be available online, so we’ve uploaded them. Here they are: 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Will post 2012 once available. Russel read more
September 28, 2012 5:00 pm - 28 Comments
My musings on Live Below the Line - by Jan Logie

I’ve had some really interesting conversations this week about global and domestic poverty and had lots of challenges. Thank you. Three challenges were made, more often than once, that I’d like to explore. LBL gives privileged people a sense that they know what poverty is like when really this project doesn’t give any indication of [...] read more
September 28, 2012 1:15 pm - 29 Comments
First Do No Harm – League tables fail the test - by Catherine Delahunty

The media over the weekend was interesting reading for some but for other people whose schools were ranked as below standard it was depressing and debilitating and lacking respect for their children, teachers and parents. There are several major problems with the publication of the data which was described by the Prime Minister as “ropey”. [...] read more
September 24, 2012 10:57 am - 67 Comments
Climate change and human psychoses – seeking, genuinely, a National-Green dialogue - by Kennedy Graham

It has been a week of climate change. A quarter century, actually, since the US Senate and the Brundtland Report put the issue on the international agenda. We’ve had, since then, Rio and Cairo, Kyoto and Marrakesh, Copenhagen and Cancun and Durban, and Rio again. But the past week has been especially intensive, and this [...] read more
September 21, 2012 12:16 pm - 35 Comments
Buses can be sexy - by Julie Anne Genter

Leave it to the Danes to make the best public transport ad I have seen so far. The ad essentially uses the same techniques ubiquitously applied to sell cars, and applies them to the bus. Given that car ads seem to be about one out of every three or four shown on television, and [...] read more
September 17, 2012 1:25 pm - 18 Comments
The Rights of the Child and the Government’s latest welfare announcements - by Jan Logie

The Government has announced it plans to sanction parents (this means cutting their benefit by 50%) who do not meet their ascribed parenting standards of enrolling them in 15 hours per week of ECE from 3 years of age, enrolling in a PHO, completing all the well child checks, and ensuring children are enrolled in [...] read more
September 12, 2012 8:27 pm - 61 Comments
What does a List MP do? - by Catherine Delahunty

Monday – Woke up in a hotel room next to a racecourse in Rotorua with Jeanette Fitzsimons. We had worked all weekend at the Ka Nui conference on mining threats and ended it protesting at the mining industry cocktail party; Jeanette dressed as the elephant in the room, climate change. My partner picked me up [...] read more
September 4, 2012 10:11 am - 51 Comments
What Greece’s motorways mean for NZ - by Julie Anne Genter

No one could say that Greece’s heavy spending on motorways directly caused their default crisis. I’m certainly not saying that. There were many factors at play, though certainly borrowing to pay for projects that were not the best at reducing transport costs certainly didn’t help. From 2000 to 2006 alone Greece spent nearly half of [...] read more
August 28, 2012 2:12 pm - 57 Comments
Me and Marriage Equality - by Kevin Hague

So here’s a sample of the kind of thing MPs are receiving in our inboxes: EXACTLY WHAT ARE GAYS #4 WHO SAYS WE NEED ‘OFFICIAL MARRIAGE’ FOR INSECURE HOMOSEXUALS? WHAT’S WRONG WITH CIVIL UNION? OR FOR EXTREME INSECURITY, MAYBE CASTRATION COULD RELIEVE THEIR ANXIETY (IT DID FOR MY DOG) (BE LIKE GENETIC ENGINEERING TOO). OR [...] read more
August 26, 2012 10:48 pm - 29 Comments
Bill English wrong about child payment discrimination - by Holly Walker

The Finance Minister was wrong to tell Parliament that the In-Work Tax Credit doesn’t discriminate against some of our poorest children. read more
August 24, 2012 3:33 pm - 15 Comments
Responding to the two global crises: thoughts on the Rio+20 conference - by Kennedy Graham

This piece was originally produced for the UN Association of Australia Conference, Brisbane, August 2012 Humanity today faces the first truly global crisis in its 5,000-year political history. As we enter the Anthropocene: - Our ecological footprint, surpassing Earth-share (bio-productive capacity per capita) in 1981, recorded an overshoot of 18% in 1992 and 50% in [...] read more
August 21, 2012 5:54 pm - 110 Comments
More, not fewer bicycles will reduce fatalities - by Julie Anne Genter

Forgive me for thinking that the Coroner’s goal is to reduce cycle deaths by reducing the number of people willing to travel by bicycle. New safety rules to avoid cycle deaths mooted during the Coroner’s inquest include innovative ideas such as mandatory high-vis clothing and compulsory use of cycle lanes. A few years back, a [...] read more
July 26, 2012 2:25 pm - 31 Comments
Goodbye Margaret Mahy - by Holly Walker

Margaret Mahy once told a group of kids how, when she was young, she loved stories so much she started writing to “squeeze myself right into the stories”. And in the process, she squeezed generations of us into her stories too. I grew up with Mahy’s characters – the Lion in the meadow, the nutty [...] read more
July 24, 2012 10:53 am - 1 Comment
Addressing the global crises with purpose and resolve…post-Rio reflections - by Kennedy Graham

This is the first of a series of blogs reflecting on the Rio+20 conference of June 2012. It is a question of the cognitive framework we adopt, as individuals or governments. - Do we regard the environmental problems we face today as in the nature of other problems human society has faced before, and one [...] read more
July 20, 2012 8:44 am - 24 Comments
League tables – who benefits? - by Catherine Delahunty

One of our worst fears during the last term of Parliament was that National Standards in primary schools would be turned into League tables by the media. Now it’s about to happen as newspapers have requested the information so they can publish it. There was never a legal way to prevent this happening so the [...] read more
June 29, 2012 4:15 pm - 35 Comments
GE in the Food Bill - by Steffan Browning

The Food Bill is before Parliament at the moment and is intended to be an update and improvement of food safety legislation from the 20 year old Food Act 1981. There has been significant interest in the Bill, and I have been going around the country talking to lots of you about it. The draft [...] read more
June 29, 2012 10:31 am - 4 Comments
Mining the Western Bay - by Catherine Delahunty

On Monday June 25th I spoke at a Green public meeting which we organised to raise awareness with residents of Te Puke and Papamoa about the mining activities in their region. Glass Earth Gold Ltd has an exploration permit to drill in pine forest on private land, in an area of previous mine workings called [...] read more
June 28, 2012 8:21 am - 13 Comments
Insulation shambles needs sorting so Christchurch homes can be warmer, drier and healthier - by Eugenie Sage

Our houses help determine our health. Everyone has a right to a warm, dry and healthy home. Warm homes can reduce respiratory illnesses and mean fewer days off sick from school or work, and fewer premature deaths among older persons. Much of our housing stock is not built for our climate. Around 1.6 million New [...] read more
June 25, 2012 2:28 pm - 14 Comments
Time to clean up the gambling industry - by Denise Roche

It’s all happening on the gambling front right now. This week the Auditor-General’s office agreed to carry out an inquiry into the Prime Minister’s dodgy pokies-for-convention-centre process. Meanwhile, the debate between pokie trusts and politicians around Te Ururoa Flavell’s Gambling Harm Reduction Bill has also been playing out in the media. With submissions on this [...] read more
June 15, 2012 12:43 pm - 8 Comments
Asset sales petition gathers momentum - by Catherine Delahunty

This weekend I took to the streets of my hometown to help the team of volunteers collecting signatures for the petition calling for a Citizens Initiated Referendum on the sale of our state assets. Some people call it a partial sale I cannot see much hope in such a fine distinction. I began collecting signatures [...] read more
June 13, 2012 8:28 am - 22 Comments
Growing the Greens – AGM weekend - by frog

This Queen’s Birthday weekend, the Green Party held its AGM at Upper Hutt’s native bush-surrounded Silverstream retreat with ‘Growing the Greens’ the appropriate theme. The largest Green Party AGM yet kicked off on Friday 1st June by celebrating the founding of the Values Party some 40 years ago. This was the party from which the [...] read more
June 5, 2012 4:55 pm - 6 Comments
Planet Economy lives on Planet Earth not in some distant galaxy - by Eugenie Sage

For National, Planet Economy is somewhere distant from Planet Earth. Bill English’s Budget speech didn’t even mention the environment or conservation. National demonstrated once again that it doesn’t understand that a healthy economy depends on a healthy environment. Instead of investing in biodiversity protection National produced a zero sum budget for our native plants and [...] read more
May 25, 2012 1:27 pm - 11 Comments
Israel and Palestine: Searching for the circuit-breaker - by Kennedy Graham

I’ve just returned from the Middle East as part of delegation of National, Labour and Green MPs. We visited Israel, Palestine and Jordan. The aim was to gain knowledge, exchange views, and develop friendship links with fellow parliamentarians in the region. An Israeli-NZ group already exists. I and the chairman of the Jordanian foreign affairs [...] read more
May 22, 2012 4:33 pm - 18 Comments
Keep our Assets – The Petition for a referendum is live! - by frog

Sign up to help collect signatures to keep our assets. read more
April 27, 2012 4:47 pm - 83 Comments