Gareth Hughes Archive

  • Gareth Hughes

    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
  • Gareth Hughes

    Student Volunteer Army defeats student stereotype - by Gareth Hughes



    Today I got to spend time with the students and organisers behind the Volunteer Student Army in Christchurch as they wound down major operations. Organised by Canterbury students, the student army recruited hundreds of volunteers, including a Green Party contingent to shovel liquifacted soil, leaflet, and door knock in areas badly affected by Christchurch’s devastating [...] read more
    March 4, 2011 5:55 pm - 122 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Before the holiday season ends send a submission on the Holiday Highway - by Gareth Hughes



    It’s almost Christmas time and I’m sure most of you are ready for a holiday. But before you go, if you live in Auckland, Rodney, Whangarei, or anywhere else and want smart transport decisions please take a few minutes to make a submission on the New Zealand Transport Agency’s latest proposal for the Holiday Highway – [...] read more
    December 22, 2010 1:45 pm - 2 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    New Auckland motorway causes congestion - by Gareth Hughes



    The Herald has carried another story today about how building a motorway has made congestion worse in Auckland, not better. Suprised? The New Zealand Transport Agency has admitted that they seriously under-estimated how much traffic their upgrades of State Highway 16 (SH16) to form the Western Ring Route would create. Motorists are now experiencing delays of up [...] read more
    December 21, 2010 1:10 pm - 47 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Northland: the front-lines of how we move people and freight around - by Gareth Hughes



    I went to Northland last Friday to visit a region which is on the front-lines of the government’s ideological attack on how we move people and freight around. The state of Northland transport right now epitomises the Government’s pro-truck ideology: more motorways and less rail. To investigate the impacts of the Government’s push for more [...] read more
    December 20, 2010 2:49 pm - 10 Comments
  • David Clendon

    VSM: a very silly measure - by David Clendon



    Last year Heather Roy’s (formally Roger Douglas’) Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill was drawn from the members bill ballot. The bill which was badly drafted when it entered the ballot biscuit tin emerged from select committee still in a shocking state. Tonight it comes back to the house for committee stages and we will [...] read more
    December 8, 2010 7:01 pm - 18 Comments
  • frog

    What are our MPs listening to? Latest podcast - by frog



    This podcast is inspired by a close encounter with John Key in the Parliamentary gym by one of our staffers, who observed the PM listening to headphones while pounding the treadmill. It got us thinking: what do our MPs listen to? What’s on their iPods? Do they even have iPods? And if not, where does [...] read more
    November 15, 2010 4:37 pm - No Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Way less than 10% Pure New Zealand marine environment - by Gareth Hughes



    Kiwis love our ocean. Oceans cover 70% of our planet and represent over 95% of the biosphere and in New Zealand our waters are particularly special. You may not have noticed (I didn’t see anything in the papers about it) that last week a big conservation meeting wrapped up in Nagoya, Japan. The UN Convention [...] read more
    November 5, 2010 2:14 pm - 2 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Uneconomic motorways – one thing Brash and I agree on - by Gareth Hughes



    There aren’t many things that Don Brash and I agree on however one thing we have in common is we both share concerns around the Government’s massive motorway infrastructure projects. In the media statement on the latest 2025 Taskforce report it mentions “Public investment in big projects needed to be justified, such as the spending [...] read more
    November 3, 2010 6:07 pm - 11 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Digital copyright and suspending suspension - by Gareth Hughes



    I may be a geek, but not the type that can fix your computer. I love technology, and even though I haven’t had a huge history of looking into tech and copyright issues, I really enjoyed hearing submissions on the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill. The Bill essentially sets out a three-strike “notice and [...] read more
    November 3, 2010 1:42 pm - 48 Comments
  • frog

    Another podcast with a transcript - by frog



    Yay, the momentum is building and we have a transcript for another of our podcasts, thanks once again to a very awesome writer who’s been transcribing them for us! This one’s from a few weeks back, but it’s been super-popular, so click through to listen or download the transcript of Gareth Hughes talking about his [...] read more
    October 29, 2010 4:14 pm - No Comments
  • frog

    Latest podcast – this time with transcript - by frog



    Here’s our latest podcast from Parliament, this time about the cross-party friendships Green MPs have struck up across the chamber. Parliament is a strange place, and often the only images we get are of MPs shouting at each other across the chamber during Question Time. But when the gloves are off, how do MPs from [...] read more
    October 26, 2010 3:45 pm - 4 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    State of the libraries - by Gareth Hughes



    I love libraries. Sure I’m the bookish type – but I think everyone loves them for one reason or another: to meet friends, listen to music, borrow a DVD, browse a magazine, to take a class, attend a public meeting and soon borrow an e-book for your digital reader. Even actor Michael Caine talks about [...] read more
    October 20, 2010 4:06 pm - 4 Comments
  • frog

    Podcast: Green Spirituality - by frog



    Sojourners founder and best-selling author Jim Wallis was recently in the country talking about faith and politics. He famously said that the Democrats got religion when they saw the exit polls from the 2004 presidential election. It got me wondering how our own Green MPs understand religion, both in their own lives and beyond. Today [...] read more
    October 11, 2010 3:57 pm - 124 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    How to stop drink driving? - by Gareth Hughes



    A few days ago the Government announced another set of tough penalties for teen drink drivers. They have effectively reduced the blood alcohol limit for teenage drink drivers to zero. I think it is a case of youth scapegoating but I’m not complaining about this because we need to cut down on teen drink driving [...] read more
    October 4, 2010 9:58 am - 19 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    New Lynn opens with new hope for Auckland - by Gareth Hughes



    I attended the opening of the New Lynn transport hub last Friday. I always enjoy attending the openings of great transport projects but this one was particularly fun. It wasn’t just a lot of boring speeches but included a troupe of dancing dragons, a Maori kapa haka group performed and Govenor General Anand Satyand, made [...] read more
    September 27, 2010 9:13 am - 6 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Tuakau sits-in to get rail in - by Gareth Hughes



    As the Herald reports, this weekend three communities in the Waikato – Huntly, Tuakau and Te Awamutu, staged sit-ins at their local train station. They were there to show their support for a passenger rail service between Auckland and Hamilton. You can see some footage of the sit-ins here. The sit-ins had huge support with over [...] read more
    September 13, 2010 2:51 pm - 23 Comments
  • frog

    Podcast: Bird of the Year - by frog



    Forest and Bird are launching their Bird of the Year competition this week and Green Co-leader, Russel Norman, is officially championing the kokako. I talked to Russel about his choice of native bird and his great dream of a Giant Totara National Park that inspired it…along with a gaggle of other Green MPs on their [...] read more
    September 13, 2010 12:20 pm - 1 Comment
  • Gareth Hughes

    VSM: Very silly and malicious - by Gareth Hughes



    VSM. Three little letters that stand for Very Silly and Malicious, as well as Voluntary Student Membership. Sir Roger Douglas has a Bill to ram through VSM and this will have a massive negative impact across the country. read more
    August 24, 2010 8:57 pm - 27 Comments
  • Gareth Hughes

    Trains are cheaper than helicopters - by Gareth Hughes



    Recently Steven Joyce, our Minister of Trucking Transport, claimed it would cost less to fly somebody by helicopter from Hamilton to Auckland than it would to subsidize a commuter rail service between the two cities. Luckily, Hamilton City Councillors quickly responded, pointing out that the actual cost of subsidizing a commuter rail service is hundreds [...] read more
    August 4, 2010 3:50 pm - 24 Comments
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