Gareth Hughes Archive

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  Minister should come clean on uneconomic motorways - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  What does the Minister have to hide on his expensive motorways? read more
  December 7, 2011 2:07 pm - 2 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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  Transport funding CONsultation - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  A few months ago I wrote a draft submission on the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport funding and encouraged members of the public to send it in. Normally, I generally don’t encourage people to make form submissions on a topic but because the issue of land transport funding is pretty technical I wanted to [...] read more
  October 18, 2011 1:55 pm - 5 Comments
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  Why won’t National listen to Auckland on CBD rail link? - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I was astonished that a few weeks back Auckland MPs voted against inviting the Auckland Council to submit on the CBD rail link debate. I can only talk about it now because the report containing my minority report was tabled in Parliament today. The Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee was discussing my petition to [...] read more
  September 8, 2011 4:52 pm - 11 Comments
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  The nose that knows - by frog

  
  
  
  Frogblog readers may have read that Green MP Gareth Hughes broke his nose playing for the Parliamentary Rugby XV last week. The good news for Gareth is that he has now had surgery to straighten his nose, and it is on the mend. The bad news is that he has to wear a rather annoying [...] read more
  September 3, 2011 8:12 am - 5 Comments
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  Round up of transport news - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I’ve been whipping around the country a lot lately visiting students at Orientation. So I haven’t had a chance to post much. But here’s a bit of a round up of the big transport stories of the last few weeks and my reaction. More funds for rail upgrades in Wellington. The government has announced an [...] read more
  August 2, 2011 6:59 pm - 10 Comments
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  Is urban sprawl inevitable? - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Advocates (like Steven Joyce) of removing Metropolitan Urban Limits and allowing lots of low density growth around our cities like to present their case as if urban sprawl is the natural result of market forces. Their narrative is pretty much that people like to live in spread out suburbs with their own back yard and [...] read more
  June 21, 2011 2:43 pm - 45 Comments
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  Many questions, but no answers on Telecommunications bill - by frog

  
  
  
  Green MP Gareth Hughes had some questions for Communications Minister Steven Joyce in Parliament yesterday: Here was Steven Joyce’s reply: Nothing to say here. Nothing to say here. Nothing to say here. Nothing to say here. So Gareth tried again: Steven Joyce still wouldn’t take a call to respond. As Toad, one of our regular [...] read more
  June 17, 2011 6:46 pm - 10 Comments
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  Pedestrianise Queen Street? Hell yeah! - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  The Auckland Council is consulting right now on a discussion document called the City Centre Master Plan (PDF). It almost slipped under my radar but I’ve managed to draft up a quick submission to go in before the closing date – this Friday, the 17th of June. I encourage you to make an online submission [...] read more
  June 16, 2011 11:51 pm - 14 Comments
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  Growing in a way that makes us happy - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  According to a piece in the Herald today, people with longer commutes are less likely to be healthy, happy or stay married. The study found that if you commute for 45 minutes plus then your chance of getting divorced is 40% higher than for those with shorter journeys. This is good news for me (and [...] read more
  June 8, 2011 6:42 pm - 17 Comments
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  UN: Internet termination breaches human rights - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  One of the main reasons the Green Party opposed the new controversial file-sharing law passed under urgency was that it still contained internet termination as a potential remedy. I argued at the time it was disproportionate, wouldn’t work, and took away a modern human right. More and more of our democracy, interaction with Government departments, [...] read more
  June 4, 2011 5:38 pm - 29 Comments
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  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
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  Government’s transport funding plans just silly - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  A while ago the Herald wrote an editorial about the Government’s transport plans for Auckland. They observed that if you define insanity as doing the same thing again and again while expecting a different outcome, then the Government’s transport policies are insane. While I was reading the Government Policy Statement on Transport Funding last week [...] read more
  May 15, 2011 8:44 am - 13 Comments
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  Flash mob for CBD rail loop - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  The Budget is fast approaching and so far the government has shown no sign that they will fund the CBD rail loop. In fact, their latest Government Policy Statement on transport funding shows that over the next 10 years they’re planning to spend $7 on roads for every $1 they spend on sustainable transport options [...] read more
  May 10, 2011 1:00 pm - 19 Comments
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  Council rail-roaded into supporting roads - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I attended the extraordinary Wellington City Council meeting that voted last night to support the Government’s $2.4 billion roading plans. Essentially the Council has written a blank cheque to the NZTA. It is preposterous that the Council could vote on a project when no one, not even the council officers, has seen the final plans. [...] read more
  April 21, 2011 12:01 pm - 34 Comments
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  Will Auckland ever get new trains? - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  While Auckland’s public transport systems are getting seriously overcrowded, we are still waiting to find out which company has been awarded the $500 million contract to build the new Auckland electric rail cars (aka Electric Multiple Units or EMUs). The trains, themselves, won’t be operational until 2014 at the earliest. As motorway, after motorway, finishes 6 months [...] read more
  April 19, 2011 5:00 pm - 28 Comments
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  Digital copyright debated in the House and online - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  It was a privilege to speak in Parliament last night and oppose the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill that passed this morning under urgency. It was also a fun debate, with some hilarious gaffes made by National MPs who got their inter-webs mixed up with their Skynets that have been immortalised in online parodies. [...] read more
  April 14, 2011 2:13 pm - 19 Comments
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  Paying for CBD rail and Christchurch - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Lately I’ve had quite a few people ask me whether it’s realistic to continue pushing for the government to fund the CBD rail loop in the after-math of the Christchurch earthquake. I can understand what they’re thinking. After all, the CBD rail loop is an expensive project and the reconstruction of Christchurch will also cost [...] read more
  April 13, 2011 11:05 am - 1 Comment
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  Which motorway project(s) would you cut? - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  So, the Minister of Finance has confirmed its full steam ahead with the national motorway gamble. Even the Transport Minister has made it clear that he will not consider cutting the budget for the poster-child of uneconomic motorways, the Puhoi to Wellsford ‘Holiday Highway,’ after the quake. Government cabinet papers also say that the government [...] read more
  March 18, 2011 2:00 pm - 25 Comments
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  Wider motorway or marine reserve? - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Last weekend I visited the Motu Manawa Marine Reserve as part of Sea Week. I was there to help Forest and Bird and Friends of the Whau with a boat based clean up of the marine reserve. As you can see from the photo below we collected a lot of rubbish – especially given that [...] read more
  March 9, 2011 9:52 am - 8 Comments