Media Archive

  • Holly Walker

    We shouldn’t need to sponsor kids in NZ - by Holly Walker



    It’s good that Variety, KidsCan, and others have stepped in to fill the yawning chasm of child poverty that too many of our kids are falling into. But let’s take this as a challenge and demand governments that will eradicate the need for such schemes by guaranteeing the essentials for all our kids. read more
    January 29, 2013 9:42 am - 22 Comments
  • Kevin Hague

    JT does the time warp, again - by Kevin Hague



    The John Tamihere Horror Show has returned and is not so much about a jump to the left or a step to the right, but a giant leap backward into some weird chauvinistic 1960s time warp where “no fat chicks” or gays are allowed. For that he’s been called a charming rogue, who represents the [...] read more
    December 5, 2012 12:44 pm - 5 Comments
  • Metiria Turei

    Take the Step – Auckland! - by Metiria Turei



    After spending Wednesday in the House on that crazy, toilet free, golf course plentiful Planet Key, I landed smoothly in the real world at Edmund Hillary Primary at Papakura on Thursday; a decile 1 school with a volunteer breakfast program and a community garden. You might have seen them on Campbell Live in August. Anyway, [...] read more
    September 21, 2012 11:55 am - No Comments
  • Holly Walker

    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
  • Julie Anne Genter

    The death of public broadcasting? - by Julie Anne Genter



    There is something important and terrifying happening, mostly without notice. It is the death of public television. We’re about to lose our only non-commercial free-to-air broadcaster (with the notable exception of Maori TV). Last week I attended at the first of a series of public meetings to save TVNZ 7, but it started out with [...] read more
    May 20, 2012 11:23 pm - 8 Comments
  • Metiria Turei

    Congratulations Keith - by Metiria Turei



    Congratulations Keith. It is great to see Keith recognised for his passionate hard work standing up for human rights both at home and around the world. Keith was awarded Amnesty International Aotearoa’s 2012 Human Rights Defender award over the weekend. We could devote pages to the campaigns, issues and individual cases (not just high profile [...] read more
    May 14, 2012 2:51 pm - 4 Comments
  • Mojo Mathers

    Green policies translated into NZ Sign Language - by Mojo Mathers



    In what is a first for a political party in New Zealand and possibly the world, I am thrilled that the Green Party has  marked New Zealand Sign Language week by getting parts of our website translated into New Zealand Sign Language ( NZSL). This step means Deaf New Zealanders can now learn more about [...] read more
    May 4, 2012 9:16 am - 6 Comments
  • Holly Walker

    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
  • Sue Kedgley

    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
  • Gareth Hughes

    Paddy Gower: The Mash Up - by Gareth Hughes



    Yesterday we had TV3’s Patrick Gower come into our caucus meeting and sing us the star spangled banner. No offense to Paddy, but he’s not the best singer. So I thought I’d put it out to you creative geniuses out there to remix and mash up Patrick. You could animate the scene, cut in Taylor [...] read more
    October 5, 2011 9:54 am - 2 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Israeli SAR leader had worked in intelligence - by Keith Locke



    One bit of information that hasn’t come out yet is that Hilik Magnus, who led the private Israeli search and rescue team which arrived in Christchurch shortly after the February 22 quake had previously worked for Israeli intelligence. read more
    July 22, 2011 10:22 am - 13 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Never mind the facts, give us an opinion! - by David Clendon



    It seems the Far-From-Sensible Sentencing Trust is getting set to launch into another round of tub-thumping about how we are all too soft on crime; let’s lock ‘em up and throw away the key before we’re all murdered in our beds; it’s a jungle out there; etc, etc. Apparently they commissioned some research in May “…on [...] read more
    July 13, 2011 9:18 am - 7 Comments
  • frog

    Podcast: why you should care about the file sharing law - by frog



    In this podcast, Green Party ICT Spokesperson Gareth Hughes talks about the new file sharing law – what it means, why non-nerds should be worried about it too, and what can be done from here. read more
    May 27, 2011 11:56 am - 3 Comments
  • frog

    Green MPs and US ‘influence’ - by frog



    It was news on the Stuff website today that Russel Norman took a State Department-sponsored trip to the USA in 2009 and that our MPs have contact with the US embassy in NZ. Apparently it was news because you can find a record of it in US embassy cables available on Wikileaks. Never mind that [...] read more
    May 2, 2011 6:14 pm - 27 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Thoughts on Jetstar’s discrimination - by Catherine Delahunty



    When Jetstar refused two people the right to fly because they use wheelchairs and didn’t have two caregivers, it raised the endless and ongoing issue of discrimination against people with disabilities. The debate is not new. It has taken years for disability activists to work with the airlines to ensure access onto all kinds of [...] read more
    April 13, 2011 5:24 pm - 8 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    National Standards race to nowhere - by Catherine Delahunty



    Yesterday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard visited our Parliament and promoted free trade agreements with all the fervour of the faithful. This position was predictable, but less well known is her stance on education. Julia is the leader who imposed the Australian version of National Standards on Australian schools against the wishes of the teachers’ unions. read more
    February 17, 2011 10:31 am - 21 Comments
  • frog

    “Greens’ vigilance on Gillard merits praise” – John Armstrong - by frog



    Here’s John Armstrong’s view on Julia Gillard addressing Parliament, as published in the NZ Herald this morning. Greens’ vigilance on Gillard merits praise – John Armstrong The Greens have got some unwarranted stick for blocking Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard from addressing Parliament while it is officially in session. They were right to do so. [...] read more
    February 15, 2011 10:17 am - 8 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    No return on PPP investment - by Catherine Delahunty



    John Key’s Government is poised to start tendering for public private partnerships (PPPs) to build and run our schools. I’ve said before what a terrible idea this is – overseas research suggests that no matter how you cut the PPP cake, the public ends up funding the projects while the private companies cream profit off [...] read more
    February 2, 2011 10:58 am - 26 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Just when you thought girls could do anything - by Catherine Delahunty



    The front page of today’s Dominion Post carries the story of a Newlands college pupil who was told she “looked like a slut” for wearing her school skirt short by her school dean. The verbal apology that was given notwithstanding, this incident is very disturbing. As a former girl who formerly wore very short skirts [...] read more
    November 11, 2010 3:45 pm - 122 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    School boards join the National Standards debate - by Catherine Delahunty



    It’s always nice to wake up to good news, and this morning it was the news that 225 school Boards of Trustees will today deliver the message to the Government that they have no confidence in National Standards, and will defer setting student achievement targets based on the standards for at least a year. read more
    November 3, 2010 10:32 am - 39 Comments
  • frog

    OIA laughs for a Friday afternoon - by frog



    I’ve been enjoying Idiot/Savant’s posts over at No Right Turn about his ongoing battles trying to get various Ministers in John Key’s Government to respond adequately to his OIA requests. I’ve had a couple of classics myself this week. read more
    September 24, 2010 2:54 pm - 6 Comments
  • frog

    Captioning the Rugby World Cup - by frog



    It was pleasing to discover yesterday, via a question from Catherine to Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman, that the seven Rugby World Cup matches screened live on TVNZ next year will include live captioning for the deaf community – after all, we promised the world a ‘stadium of 4 million people’, and this ought to include [...] read more
    September 23, 2010 2:25 pm - 2 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    When will we have real police culture change? - by Catherine Delahunty



    In 2007, the Herald named Louise Nicholas New Zealander of the Year for her brave exposure of police violence against women. However, as I blogged a couple of weeks ago, female victims of “police misconduct” like Louise have been told they will not be compensated. This week they also witnessed the edifying sight of former [...] read more
    August 27, 2010 1:05 pm - 161 Comments
  • frog

    Labour’s eerily familiar water campaign - by frog



    They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I guess we should be flattered by this leaflet from Labour MP Brendon Burns which appeared at the Christchurch eco-show: Not only is the image of Mr Burns rafting the Hurunui River strangely similar to many of those from Russel’s Dirty Rivers Rafting Tour… …but [...] read more
    July 29, 2010 1:24 pm - 21 Comments
  • frog

    I can’t write satire, but Secret Agent ‘Lhaws’ can - by frog



    I’m a rather boring political blogger. I like to look at the evidence, see if it supports the political spin, and comment accordingly. But it seems we have a ‘secret agent” in the Greens who can write very clever satire, at least on mining. The agent’s under cover name is “Lhaws” read more
    July 25, 2010 9:16 pm - 4 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Gifted awareness week despite funding cuts - by Catherine Delahunty



    This week is Gifted Awareness Week. I support calls to restore full funding for gifted and talented support programmes – programmes which had their funding slashed in last year’s Budget. Children are gifted in so many different ways, and many need professional support like that offered by gifted and talented programmes throughout our state schools. [...] read more
    June 16, 2010 3:02 pm - 9 Comments
  • frog

    Rules for freshwater management? Never! - by frog



    Kiran Chug has a great story in this morning’s Dominion Post: the sorry tale of the proposed National Policy Statement on Freshwater management. Our rivers are getting dirtier and dirtier while this document languishes. A quick history: National policy statements are tools that can be developed under the Resource Management Act to guide local and [...] read more
    June 16, 2010 10:45 am - 11 Comments
  • frog

    Podcast: How the Beautiful Game burns burns burns - by frog



    The Football World Cup is on our doorstep. In the world of sport, it doesn’t get any bigger than this. As the All Whites journey to South Africa to play amongst the great nations of football, I decided to find out if any of the Green MPs had a crazy mixed-up love relationship with the [...] read more
    June 10, 2010 8:02 am - 2 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Inside the welfare forum we were un-invited to - by Catherine Delahunty



    Today and tomorrow, the Welfare Working Group is hosting a forum on welfare issues to look at the big picture. It was advertised as open to the first 250 people who enrolled, and billed as bringing together “a diversity of opinions and experience”. Metiria and I immediately registered, along with one of our researchers, because [...] read more
    June 9, 2010 5:02 pm - 174 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Miss Universe contestants at Parliament - by Catherine Delahunty



    I missed Question Time yesterday as I had an important event to attend and it looks like I missed the highlight of the year: the crucial visit to Parliament by 13 Miss New Universe contestants. What a shame I wasn’t there to experience that particular embarrassment and humiliation. Apparently the presence of the contestants got [...] read more
    June 3, 2010 12:24 pm - 32 Comments
  • Metiria Turei

    Inequality in Aotearoa: inequality and social mobility - by Metiria Turei



    You can’t move from rags to riches when there’s a yawning gap between rich and poor. Much of the post-Budget debate has been focused on whether John Key and Bill English’s prescription for the country’s finances will increase or decrease the gap between rich and poor. Despite assuring us that he cares about inequality, Mr [...] read more
    June 2, 2010 5:09 pm - 91 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Erosion of environmental representation at ECan - by Russel Norman



    And so it begins… Forest and Bird revealed yesterday that the first local committee set up under the new ECan structure to consider the future of the Hurunui and Waiau river catchments was unlikely to have any members representing environmental concerns. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but with the Government’s not-so-hidden agenda for [...] read more
    June 1, 2010 4:45 pm - 17 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Prejudice against Pasifika players offside - by Keith Locke



    The New Zealand Herald was right to call “offensive” Andy Haden’s suggestion that the Crusaders rugby team has done better by having fewer Polynesians in the team. After claiming the Crusaders had a quota of three Polynesian players Haden said “and it’s worked”. This prejudicial attitude is not new, particularly in Haden’s Auckland where some [...] read more
    May 30, 2010 12:33 pm - 46 Comments
  • Metiria Turei

    Inequality in Aotearoa: Mind the Gap! - by Metiria Turei



    As you know, I’ve been writing a series of blog posts about Inequality in Aotearoa during April and May. I’ve also been working on ideas for solutions to the growing gap between rich and poor in New Zealand, and this morning I’ve launched a major package of eight practical ideas to reduce inequality. Here I [...] read more
    May 17, 2010 3:43 pm - 139 Comments
  • Metiria Turei

    Inequality in Aotearoa: an idea whose time has come - by Metiria Turei



    A major feature of the UK election campaign whose results we’ve all been hanging off (and by the way why would we even contemplate a return to FPP given the grossly disproportionate result it’s produced over there?) was the importance of inequality. One of the Liberal Democrats’ key campaign planks was a tax-free threshold of [...] read more
    May 12, 2010 4:24 pm - 48 Comments
  • frog

    A hard ACT to follow - by frog



    It seems the infighting within the ACT Party is not confined just to Rodney Hide, Heather Roy, Roger Douglas and the Parliamentary wing. Following ACT on Campus President Rick Giles’ profound argument in denial of human induced climate change on TV3’s Sunrise earlier this week: I think my argument is so powerful, it’s not necessary to talk about it read more
    April 3, 2010 6:28 am - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Save your rivers, eat a New Zealand apple? - by frog



    Most people these days are used to thinking about the “carbon footprint” of consumer goods, and know about the concept of “food miles”. But have you ever thought about the “virtual water content” of your food? I hadn’t, so found this story in New Zealand Farmers Weekly quite fascinating. Apparently, about 6.5 litres of water [...] read more
    March 24, 2010 2:34 pm - 25 Comments
  • frog

    Factory farming reprieve - by frog



    Some fantastic news late last night – the companies applying to start factory-style dairy farms in the Mackenzie Country have shelved their effluent consent applications, citing costs. This is a real victory for the Greens, the environmental movement, and everyone who’s spoken up in opposition to the proposals since we revealed them in December. More [...] read more
    March 19, 2010 10:45 am - 27 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    “Reshaping” the Ministry of Education - by Catherine Delahunty



    I’m not a morning person at the best of times, and trying to understand what the Minister of Education was saying on “Morning Report” today about cuts to the Ministry of Education cuts was a true challenge. Is this an opposition beat up? Is the Minister directing the Ministry to cut administration services? Is it [...] read more
    March 11, 2010 11:02 am - 7 Comments
  • frog

    No global warming since 1995. Really? - by frog



    Here is a great summary of the danger of scientific reporting by the press, based on a recent example. The Daily Mail story mentioned in the video, and the BBC transcript. Compare for yourself I could link to a few blogs that blindly ran with the Daily Mail take on things, but that would be [...] read more
    February 23, 2010 9:26 am - 75 Comments
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