THE GAME Archive

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  Super Fund invests in Chinese property bubble? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has, on our behalf, decided to take a $23 million bet on a property development company with significant exposure to China — a country where some reports say that there are 64 million vacant apartments. The Fund’s stake in Hong Kong-based property development company Sun Hung Kai is the tenth [...] read more
  February 9, 2012 8:05 am - 2 Comments
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  A nation divided? - by Holly Walker

  
  
  
  The Herald has launched a six part series highlighting inequality and poverty in New Zealand, showing why we need action on the root causes, not the consequences. read more
  February 7, 2012 1:37 pm - 38 Comments
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  The Christmas story: Russel Norman’s Address in Reply speech - by frog

  
  
  
  “These are the values that help to lay down the essential nature of what it means to be human and guide us to live a ‘good’ life – good to ourselves, good to one another, and good to the world in which we make our livelihoods.” – Russel Norman. Address in Reply speeches are long, [...] read more
  December 21, 2011 9:48 pm - 8 Comments
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  Patents, Pacific Partnerships, and (com)puters - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Have a read of this interesting opinion piece on NBR about the ramifications the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will have for software patents in New Zealand. I think the most interesting part that Paul Matthews hits on is that by signing the TPPA, New Zealand law could be overridden. New Zealand recently completed a [...] read more
  December 14, 2011 4:11 pm - 3 Comments
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  Survey shows we can turn around low voter turnout - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  The final election results were released over the weekend bringing with them some good news and some bad news. The good news: the Greens achieved a record result, including our bonus 14th MP Mojo Mathers. The bad news: official voter turnout was only 74.21%, the lowest in over 100 years. This record low voter turnout [...] read more
  December 12, 2011 5:37 pm - 16 Comments
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  John Key’s new Cabinet announced - by frog

  
  
  
  Prime Minister John Key announced his new Cabinet this morning. The line-up is pretty predictable, but some of the portfolio allocations and rankings are interesting: The big winners are Steven Joyce and Hekia Parata, moving up 10 and 13 places respectively in the Cabinet ranking. Parata replaces Anne Tolley as Minister of Education. Paula Bennett’s [...] read more
  December 12, 2011 1:02 pm - 10 Comments
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  Good Green gains in final election results - by frog

  
  
  
  The final election results are out, and the great news is that the Greens have achieved an historic high of 11.06% of the party vote.  That gives us one additional MP to the election night count – the talented Mojo Mathers. Mojo’s election will cause a shake-up in the way things work around Parliament.  Shamefully, [...] read more
  December 10, 2011 9:50 pm - 5 Comments
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  Political window dressing is not an appropriate response to abuse - by Jan Logie

  
  
  
  The appalling and heart-wrenching situation for the woman in Invercargill whose rapist moved in next door highlights several areas for legislative review and policy & funding change. This woman has an indefinite protection order in place but this does nothing to prevent her abuser moving in next door. The police have been for a ‘chat’ and [...] read more
  December 10, 2011 2:53 pm - 5 Comments
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  Spectacular Green success in the Māori electorates - by frog

  
  
  
  One of the great 2011 electoral success stories for the Green Party has been in the Māori electorates. In all seven Māori electorates the Greens’ share of the party vote has at least doubled and in two, Waiariki and Te Tai Hauāuru, has more than tripled. read more
  November 30, 2011 8:57 am - 18 Comments
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  Where the Greens are tops - by frog

  
  
  
  Here is the list of booths where the Green Party came first.  We won the Party Vote in at least 26 places around the country. I have excluded very small booths like Arthurs Pass (we won with 19 votes) and Okiwi (10 was enough for first place).  In fact I’ve excluded any booth where under [...] read more
  November 29, 2011 8:02 pm - 10 Comments
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  Thanks for voting Green! - by frog

  
  
  
  It was amazing to watch the votes coming in from around the country on Election Day. We received 10.62% of the vote, which means that we can bring at least 13 Green MPs into Parliament. So a big welcome to Eugenie Sage, Jan Logie, Steffan Browning, Denise Roche, Holly Walker, and Julie Anne Genter. There [...] read more
  November 28, 2011 11:35 am - 76 Comments
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  Make history tomorrow: vote Green - by Metiria Turei

  
  
  
  It is election day eve and the Green Party has been polling at record highs over the past few weeks. We need your help to turn those polls into seats in Parliament. You can make history tomorrow and get more Green MPs than ever before. A vote for the Greens is a vote for a [...] read more
  November 25, 2011 6:00 pm - 11 Comments
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  Bringing Parliament to the people - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Thanks to social media, it’s much easier for people in the community to engage with their politicians. Instead of holding their hands up in long town hall meetings, they can just log in to Facebook or Twitter and tap a few keys. This is why we at the Green Party take social media seriously. It’s [...] read more
  November 25, 2011 12:46 pm - 4 Comments
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  Parody and satire reform. It’s no joke - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Yesterday, in a New Zealand first, I released the Greens copyright position and a new Members’ Bill exclusively on the Internet. My new Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill seeks to protect people from being prosecuted for satirising copyrighted content; a protection available in Australia, the U.S. and many E.U. countries. Parody and satire are [...] read more
  November 10, 2011 10:11 am - 9 Comments
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  Goldman Sachs’ response to Occupy Wall Street - by frog

  
  
  
  “As thousands have gathered in Lower Manhattan, passionately expressing their deep discontent with the status quo, we have taken notice of these protests,” wrote Lloyd Blankfein, boss of Goldman Sachs, in a recent letter to investors.  “And we asked ourselves this question: ‘How can we make money off them?’ The answer is the newly launched [...] read more
  November 5, 2011 8:30 am - 15 Comments
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  Nasty surprise in Disability Commissioner bill? - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The Government has introduced legislation to establish the permanent position of Disability Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission – or has it? read more
  October 25, 2011 10:15 am - 1 Comment
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  Building industry sees eye-to-eye with Green economic policies - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  The Construction Strategy Group has recently published their report on the state of the building industry entitled Valuing the Role of Construction in the NZ Economy. The Construction Strategy Group is a lobby group and is made up of a who’s who in the industry. Their report outlines a number of key initiatives they’d like [...] read more
  October 19, 2011 9:19 am - 3 Comments
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  The Green Machine - by frog

  
  
  
  There have been a few misconceptions around what our Green Machine is and does. Some people have gotten it mixed up with an alert system that we run for Green Party members who are interested in keeping abreast of current events involving the party, and attributed some form of bad sportsmanship on our behalf. So, [...] read more
  October 11, 2011 6:24 pm - 16 Comments
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  Why Sir Paul Callaghan needs to reconsider clean technology - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Sir Paul Callaghan’s opinion piece in the Herald critiques our economic plan to create 100,000 new green jobs. His paper raises some important points about the record of previous governments and their attempts to pick winners in the research and development (R&D) field. A key element of our Green Jobs initiative launched on September 21 [...] read more
  October 11, 2011 1:00 pm - 16 Comments
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  Protest photo punishment too harsh? - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  What was the Speaker thinking about when he came down so heavily on the NZ Herald, just before the election, for publishing a photo on its website of a highly unusual event in Parliament. I wonder whether he had thought through the implications for democracy of preventing one of the major newspapers in New Zealand [...] read more
  October 10, 2011 11:16 am - 6 Comments