Society & Culture Archive

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  Urgent call for submissions: Auckland prostitution bill - by Jan Logie

  
  
  
  The Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill, a local bill which proposes to make bylaws prohibiting the business of prostitution or commercial sexual services in specified public places in Manukau City, has been before the Local Government & Environment Select Committee since 2010. Submissions had already closed on this bill but [...] read more
  February 22, 2012 1:36 pm - 38 Comments
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  Aspirational beneficiaries get shut down and shamed - by Jan Logie

  
  
  
  Last week, the Associate Minister for Social Development, Chester Borrows, told the House (and by virtue of that the whole country) that beneficiary Tania Wysocki of Pukekohe was getting “the equivalent of a salary of $43,000 a year plus her entitlement to 20 hours’ early childhood education”. He also said that she is no worse [...] read more
  February 21, 2012 11:01 am - 58 Comments
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  Government needs to rethink National Standards after US experience - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  In 2002, then US President George W Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 into law. No Child Left Behind was the US equivalent of the National Standards that New Zealand’s National-led Government has imposed on primary and intermediate schools – in fact it was the model upon which National Standards were [...] read more
  February 13, 2012 2:29 pm - 16 Comments
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  Government cherry-picks research to justify school class size increases - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Yesterday, I asked a question in Parliament to Education Minister Hekia Parata: CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) to the Minister of Education: Will she rule out implementing Treasury’s advice to increase class sizes in schools? I was expecting a similar rejection to those we have grown used to from John Key in response to some of the [...] read more
  February 9, 2012 12:55 pm - 21 Comments
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  Waitangi Day Speech to Kapiti - by Jan Logie

  
  
  
  Sorry it’s a few days late, but as promised here is my speech from Waitangi Day: Tēnā koutou katoa, Toi te kupu. Toi te mana. Toi te whēnua. Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Ati Awa, Ngāti Raukawa, mē –tē hapū o Ngāti Haū-mia. Kiā ora koūtoū.  E ngā iwi,- e ngā mana, – e ngā whānau [...] read more
  February 8, 2012 9:57 pm - 1 Comment
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  Member’s Bills drawn - by frog

  
  
  
  Today, there was a ballot at Parliament for two Member’s Bills – they get drawn by a Lotto-style “numbers in a bucket” system as there are always many more MPs outside the Cabinet wanting to progress legislation than there is time in Parliament to deal with their Bills. I had high hopes for a Green [...] read more
  February 7, 2012 8:54 pm - 6 Comments
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  Children’s privacy rights at risk - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The Green Party supports NZEI’s call for schools not to share their  Nationals Standards information because it could lead to the publishing of league tables that unfairly rank schools and infringe on pupils’ privacy. Schools must protect this information from publication because once it is centralised, there is no guarantee it can be kept out [...] read more
  January 30, 2012 4:32 pm - 14 Comments
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  More problems with Skynet - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  It is becoming more apparent every day that providing legal alternatives to file-sharing would have been more effective, easier and cheaper than the cumbersome, complex and ultimately futile Skynet Law. read more
  January 10, 2012 2:40 pm - 11 Comments
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  First impressions of a different world - by Jan Logie

  
  
  
  I’m strangely sensitised to gender at the moment Most of my life has lots of women in it. I think I might just be a woman’s woman. I have many good women friends, many of my campaign team were women and most of the places I’ve worked have had lots of women. It’s something I [...] read more
  December 22, 2011 12:23 pm - 51 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 - 9 Comments
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  Schools should appoint their own principals - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  I am concerned by media reports that the Ministry of Education is considering taking off boards of trustees the role of hiring their school’s principal. Rumours about such a significant proposal should not be swirling around in the media without a confirmation or denial from the Ministry. School boards and parents should be formally notified [...] read more
  December 19, 2011 7:42 pm - 9 Comments
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  LGBTI Rights Recognised as Human Rights! - by Jan Logie

  
  
  
  Today the United Nations released its first report into ‘Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity’. It is available online now. As spokesperson for Human Rights and Co-spokesperson for Rainbow Issues I am very pleased to see this report. In 2000 I was on [...] read more
  December 16, 2011 3:07 pm - 9 Comments
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  Garth George on “Dangerous Greens” - by frog

  
  
  
  The moustachio’d poster boy for knee-jerk conservativism , Garth George, had this wonderfully acerbic opinion piece published in today’s Herald. Now the content doesn’t worry us too much — he’s Garth George: he’s not supposed to make sense, just infuriate. What is worrying however are the striking similarities between Garth’s column and this press release [...] read more
  December 15, 2011 5:31 pm - 79 Comments
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  The Global Affairs Portfolio: Setting the Foreign Policy Agenda - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  Following the Greens’ new caucus retreat this week, the list of MP portfolios was announced.  I have relinquished the Musterer’s role and the Justice and Energy portfolios and taken on, inter alia, the new Global Affairs portfolio. This is a new development that builds upon, and refines, the previous foreign affairs portfolio.  It focuses on [...] read more
  December 15, 2011 9:08 am - 19 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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  “Choice” versus fairness in education - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Why is it that this country continues to adopt failed models from elsewhere instead of strengthening our own structures based on our own experience? The schools and communities of South Auckland and Eastern Christchurch are being used to justify ideological experimentation. After all there are many good schools doing their best in these regions and [...] read more
  December 7, 2011 5:08 pm - 71 Comments
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  Swiss copyright report on time - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  The Swiss Government has just completed a new copyright report where the overall conclusion is that the current copyright law, under which downloading copyrighted material for personal use is permitted, doesn’t have to change. As Cory Doctorow points out “It’s a rare victory for evidence-based policy in a world dominated by shrill assertions of lost [...] read more
  December 6, 2011 9:52 am - 7 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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  Citizen engagement at Occupy Auckland - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  I got a buzz out of visiting the Occupy Auckland camp again this sunny afternoon. Seventy tents have mushroomed on the grass in Aotea Square  right next to the Town Hall. Hopefully the Auckland Council will continue to tolerate the camp as a venue for citizen engagement with politics. It’s not just the ‘occupiers’ discussing [...] read more
  October 25, 2011 4:43 pm - 17 Comments