The retirement of Jeanette Fitzsimons and Sue Bradford and the pending retirement of Sue Kedgley has made room for the very capable Cantabrian Eugenie Sage, the wonderful Wellingtonian Jan Logie and the accomplished Aucklander Denise Roche.

Of course, the inimitable Keith Locke has also announced his retirement at this election and the highest ranked new male face is the tireless environmental champion Steffan Browning.

Thus, the 2011 list completes the move to a second generation of Green MPs and as Metiria Turei noted:

It’s been a calm and organised evolution … (the Party is) driven by big ideas which endure rather than just big personalities which can come and go.

Eugenie Sage is a former regional councillor, while Jan Logie represented the Greens well in the recent Mana by-election. Denise Roche is another experienced local body politician while Steffan Browning has worked for many years promoting the organics sector and a GE-free NZ.

The list also includes a rising crop of younger candidates, led by recent Young Greens co-convenor and Lower Hutt candidate Holly Walker, Mt Roskill candidate Julie Genter, and Aaryn Barlow who will stand in Nelson.

The Green Party has ranked 30 candidates for the general election and has an additional 14 candidates currently confirmed to contest the party vote in November with more to come soon.

There’s more candidate information here
 
1 Metiria Turei

2 Russel Norman

3 Kevin Hague

4 Catherine Delahunty

5 Kennedy Graham

6 Eugenie Sage

7 Gareth Hughes

8 David Clendon

9 Jan Logie

10 Steffan Browning

11 Denise Roche

12 Holly Walker

13 Julie Anne Genter

14 Mojo Mathers

15 James Shaw

16 David Hay

17 Richard Leckinger

18 Aaryn Barlow

19 Jeanette Elley

20 Sea Rotmann

21 Michael Gilchrist

22 Dora Langsbury

23 David Kennedy

24 Tane Woodley

25 Joseph Burston

26 Mikaere Curtis

27 Shane Gallagher

28 Saffron Toms

29 Steve Tollestrup

30 Jack McDonald 

Apparently it was news because you can find a record of it in US embassy cables available on Wikileaks.

Never mind that Russel blogged about his US trip at the time with observations on: climate change legislation from DC, light rail from Denver and parking issues in San Francisco.

Russel’s trip was paid for by the US State Department, as part of a long-standing exchange program for New Zealand MPs and parliamentary staff.

Today’s article surmises that this contact –together with meetings between MPs and the embassy — has ‘blunted’ Green Party political positions. In fact, we are sometimes highly critical of US policy and sometimes in favour. For example:

We’re opposed to New Zealand’s support of the US-led war in Afghanistan.

We are in favour of green collar jobs initiatives from the US federal government.

We’re opposed to ‘free’ trade deals that favour US interests at the expense of New Zealanders.

We like it when the US president acknowledges an imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner and wish our PM would do the same.

We’re opposed to US corporate interests dictating legislation in NZ like Warner Brothers has.

… this list could go on at great length.

Newspapers aren’t always accurate. It was a sensational intro to the Stuff story today – Greens ‘seduced’ by US Govt – but not substantiated in anyway.

So if you want to know where we stand on any issues, come to our website, or call a Green MP.

You also don’t need Wikileaks to know that our  MPs meet with diplomats on occasions.

Among others, our foreign affairs spokesperson Kennedy Graham has met with officials from the US Embassy in Wellington.

As a former diplomat, Kennedy is well aware of the normal protocol for these meetings and the need to keep in contact with foreign government officials.

A lunch is not a policy change and a meeting is not a sign of anything other than that the Greens are a mature political party that meets from time to time with foreign embassies.

Rather than being judged on a sensationalised account of a US officials views in a Wikileaks cable,  we’d prefer to be judged on our actions.

We are pragmatic enough to know that we can’t simply ignore the US and , but principled enough to not be bought off when we meet with them.

A formal agreement takes effect from today, although we have served as Hone’s proxy on an ad-hoc basis in recent weeks.

We are currently casting a proxy for Te Atatū MP Chris Carter as well and the rationale is the same in both instances: it’s a small way to help an electorate maintain its representation in the House regardless of their MP’s circumstances.

It is impractical, otherwise, for an independent MP to be present in the House for every vote on every Bill, every amendment, every motion, etc.

Hone can tell us whether he wishes to support or oppose and we will cast his vote accordingly. (We will use the Green Party’s position as a default if there are no specific instructions.)

There’s no obligation in this arrangement; we’ll keep exercising Hone’s proxy as long as he’s an independent MP, or either party can withdraw at any time should they wish.

Our sole aim is to help the voters of Te Tai Tokerau (and Te Atatū) have their voice heard in Parliament. We have previously helped Tariana Turia in a similar way.

For the record, Hone has also transferred his oral questions to the Green Party, and we will use these extra questions unless Hone indicates he intends to use them on any given day.

There’s too much power vested in too few people for too long.

We very cautiously supported the first recovery Bill last year while flagging serious constitutional concerns.

But the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Bill (CER)  in front of Parliament now is bigger and broader and longer-lasting.  As a result, our concerns are greater.

So we plan to oppose at first reading but will then work to revise the bill.  With changes, we might be able to support it into law.

A new entity is a good idea and it requires greater powers than is normal to respond to the crisis, but the CER bill does not contain enough democratic oversight or enough checks on the use of the extensive powers given to Canterbury Earthqauke Recovery Authority/Gerry Brownlee.

Here are a few ways in which the Bill can be improved:

The role of the community forum could be strengthened, and some additional steps taken to ensure that it is a representative body.

The power of the Council is also very limited under this bill and can be strengthened.

There needs to be geographical and subject limitations on orders in council i.e. covering only the greater Christchurch region and only legislation that is relevant to the rebuild.

The CER bill would also benefit from some criteria for when and why the CE/Minster can exercise their extensive powers.

And we’d like to see the ability to repeal CER Bill early written in to the law.

It remains to be seen how much headway we can make with the Government.

If you have other specific suggestions on how to improve the legislation, submit them here as a comment.  We’ll see what we can do in the hustle and bustle that will accompany the passage of the law here in the next few days.

The Initial List was formed by the votes of branch delegates and the candidates themselves, following the Green Party conference in Auckland in early February. At the conference Green candidates presented themselves to delegates who then went back to their branches to discuss potential list placings. The idea of the initial list is that it provides non-binding advice to members when they cast their votes, as members all over the country generally don’t have personal knowledge of all the candidates.

Once members of the Green Party cast their ballots, the party list can only be subject to minor adjustments in order to meet certain balancing criteria for gender, Maori, South island and youth representation. Last election there were no minor adjustments of this nature.

The voting and revision will take a couple of months.  A final list for the 2011 election will likely be ready in late May or early June.

This list ranking process is an internal one for the Green Party but inevitably, with a democratic process like this involving thousands of people, the info about the initial list will inevitably spread. So in order to make sure the info that spreads is the right info, here’s the initial list that’s going to Green Party members right now:

1 Turei, Metiria
2 Norman, Russel
3 Hague, Kevin
4 Delahunty, Catherine
5 Graham, Kennedy
6 Hughes, Gareth
7 Sage, Eugenie
8 Logie, Jan
9 Clendon, David
10 Walker, Holly
11 Roche, Denise
12 Genter, Julie Anne
13 Mathers, Mojo
14 Shaw, James
15 Leckinger, Richard
16 Browning, Steffan
17 Summerhays, Karen
18 Hay, David
19 Langsbury, Dora
20 Elley, Jeanette
21 Barlow, Aaryn
22 Gilchrist, Michael
23 McDonald, Jack
24 Kennedy, David
25 Woodley, Tane
26 Gallagher, Shane
27 Rotmann, Sea
28 Curtis, Mikaere
29 Burston, Joseph
30 Tollestrup, Steve
31 Goldsmith, Rachael
32 Kruize, Alex
33 Toms, Saffron
34 Dorner, Zachary
35 Monteith, Darryl
36 Watson, Pieter

A draft remit is making its way out to branches for feedback and potential revision. Ultimately, the remit will go to the Party’s June AGM for a vote where it may be confirmed, rejected or amended.

The draft remit – prepared by a volunteer committee and shaped by a round of meetings with members across the country — looks at options to advance a green agenda after the election.

Essentially, it says that if the Greens were to give confidence and supply to a government we’d need genuine progress on key Green policies and this is obviously more likely with Labour than National (– even though we have reservations about some Labour policy as well).

The draft remit expresses a preference for supporting a Labour-led Government and says of National:

“it is extremely unlikely that we could support a National-led government on confidence and supply.”

The proposal also says the Greens could work with a National-led government through a Memorandum of Understanding as it does currently.

The full text is included below.

It is worth stressing that there is no decision yet. It’s a collective decision that’ll be finalised in June after every member has had a chance to have a say.

In the meantime, discuss among yourselves…

The full text of the draft remit:

“That this AGM:

Pre-election political positioning

1.         Agrees that the Greens will campaign on the basis of the following political positioning in 2011:

(i)    The Greens are an independent party which, in order to urgently advance green policy goals, will attempt to work constructively with, and challenge, whichever party leads the government after the 2011 election;

(ii)   To support any government, we would need significant progress on key Green environmental, economic and social policies such as cutting greenhouse gas emissions, reducing poverty and inequality, cleaning up waterways and retaining public assets for future generations;

(iii)  Based on current Labour Party policy positions, the Greens have a preference to consider supporting a Labour-led government in the right circumstances, ahead of a National-led government;

(iv) The Greens could work with a National-led government to progress particular Green policies as we have over the last three years; but based on current National Party policy positions it is extremely unlikely that we could support a National-led government on confidence and supply.

Post-election process

2.         Agrees that the following process will apply to post-election negotiations by the Green Party after a general election:

(i)    a Negotiating Team, jointly chosen by the Parliamentary Caucus and the National Executive, may enter into post-election negotiations with a view to reaching an agreement on policies and processes that will advance the Green agenda;

(ii)   in addition to the negotiating team there will be a Negotiating Consultation Group consisting of five members nominated by Caucus and five members nominated by National Executive. The Negotiation Consultation Group does not directly participate in the negotiations but is to receive daily briefings from the Negotiating Team during the course of the negotiations;

(iii)  all decisions concerning the negotiations (including what agreement, if any, would potentially be taken to a Special General Meeting (SGM)) are taken by the combined Negotiating Team and Negotiation Consultation Group;

(iv) any agreement with one or more political parties that includes confidence and supply votes will be referred to an SGM, unless in the opinion of the National Executive an SGM is not warranted;

(v)  the National Executive will start the process of forming the Negotiating Team and Negotiating Consultation group following the AGM in election year and will tentatively schedule an SGM once the election date is known.”

“We value keeping politics honest. When it comes to the environmental claims made by the National Government, people expect these claims to be truthful and not misleading,” said Dr Norman.

“But when you have a Government that says we’re 100% Pure then goes out of its way to commence full-scale mining operations in our National Parks, you have to start asking some questions.

Dr Norman was first alerted to the gap between the Government’s rhetoric on the environment and the actual truth when John Key neglected to mention the environment in his opening speech to Parliament.

“I mean, our whole economy relies on the natural environment. To not even mention it when setting the scene for your term of government was a hint that something was not quite right.

“And since this time we’ve seen nothing but the continued decline of freshwater quality standards, significant budget cuts to DOC, accelerated building of roads, the watering down of waste reduction targets, the weakening of the RMA, greater taxpayer concessions for greenhouse gas polluters, etc.”

The Commission’s website says that any government using broad or unqualified claims, such as ‘green’, ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘energy efficient’, ‘recyclable’ and ‘recycled’, with no further substantiation can risk breaching the Fair Trading Act as they are ambiguous and do not explain any specific environmental benefit.

“About the only thing this Government can claim any green cred on this term is in the field of recycling. Every time we question the Government about the loss of another wild river to developers, they recycle their argument about ‘balance’.

“I will admit that their use of resources to defend their actions against the environment is extremely energy efficient,” said Dr Norman.

For the first time in Germany the Greens will lead a coalition government with the traditional left party, the Social Democrats, taking the minor party role.

The road to political success for the Greens has been a long one. Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt dismissed the Greens saying, “They’re just environmental idiots who will have disappeared again soon,” and similar things have been said about us here in Aotearoa.

It isn’t surprising people around the world are rejecting this analysis and changing their vote to Green in big numbers. We currently face the triple threats of inter-connected environmental, economic and social problems of a scale unseen in human history. Climate change, peak oil, the global financial crisis, and massive social inequality all stem from the traditional political orthodoxy and the traditional political parties have no new ideas on how to fix these problems. As Einstein said, “we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Green parties across the globe offer new thinking to address these problems we all face. Whereas ten years ago we may have been seen as fringe and the thought of voting for us a luxury, our issues are now at the centre of the political debate and our alternatives form serious policy options.

German voters have turned their traditional political structure on its head by voting Green in big numbers due to the failure of the traditional left and right parties to deal with the issues their country is facing. New Zealand voters face similar dilemmas. At our election in November we too can vote for real change by giving smart Green ideas the big tick at the ballot box.

This is the story of John and Katherine, Greens in Christchurch.

For those of us not living in the aftermath, here is a snapshot of the upheaval affecting thousands and thousands of residents.  Their homes are destroyed, their futures are uncertain.

Beyond the tragedy of the killed, the missing and the injured.  There are these stories of dislocation….thousands and thousands of them.

We are alive, safe and well.

When the quake happened, we were both in the inner city at a meeting on the top floor of a 5-storey building. We got out very fast, and walked home with thousands of others, passing heaps of rubble and knowing there were people under them.

Police just wanted everybody out, so the emergency services could get to work. Our home is significantly damaged but is holding together. We put plywood over the broken windows, tarpaulins over the damaged exterior walls and generally tidied up a bit.  We had cleaning water from a neighbour’s swimming pool that stayed intact.

We had lost power, water and of course did not use the sewer -  we dug a hole in the garden. We barbecued the chops in the fridge and cooked potatoes and frozen beans on the camping stove after fighting our way into the kitchen.

We took away our critical stuff and a few treasures – papers, photos etc., to my brother’s place the other side of town, where damage was minimal.

Our two sons Ben and William were marvellous, along with John’s brother Jeremy and sister-in-law, June. Ben arrived on Wednesday morning from Arthurs Pass with drinking water, more fuel for our camping stove fuel and groceries from Darfield. And June and Jeremy made their way across town in time for lunch.

William, who is a structural engineer, surveyed the house and locality and called a family conference with bad news, declaring it unsafe to stay. Our house is very well founded and solid, but the ground and houses uphill from us are not, and there is a real risk of landslip.

So  we vacated the house, spent a couple of days with my brother, then went with William to stay a few days with him and his family in Wellington.

Overall, we consider ourselves very fortunate, relative to thousands of others in the city. Yes, our house of 40 years is possibly finished, along with a lot of stuff accumulated over 47 years together, but we can manage without them. Right now we’re waiting for geotechnical information to let us know how our area has been assessed, and what is the prognostication for the future of the house.

Hang in there John and Katherine…and to the many  of thousands of Cantabrians like you, hang in there.

Grade A, I ventured, was the best – pure black sand, easy to shovel. B was heavy and wet, but (relatively, apparently, perhaps) clean. C was the worst, sludge mixed with sewerage.

I can now report a fourth grade of liquefaction. Grade D appeared in the last few days. Whether it is worse or better than C is a matter of taste, as it were. Grade D is moon-dust, come here to land on our planet, via some mysterious route through Middle Earth.

Grade D is as light as dust can be. It is a deathly light-grey. It lies before you, seemingly innocuous, ready to display your moon-print – one small step… until, that is, a grader passes or a puff of wind stirs it into a raging beast that goes for the nostrils. The nostrils are no match – with no evolutionary defence mechanism. We’d become extinct if this kept up for long.

We have had our share of Grade D these past few days, but yesterday’s nor’wester goaded it into surpassing itself beyond all understanding. In Dallington, our team of seven volunteers braved the streets of thick silt-dust, flung into the air by heavy machinery and the whipping wind. We knew what we were in for, driving in, as the cars driving out turned off their lights. Face masks helped but did not totally prevent seepage into the lungs. The eyes were always fair game. Half-an-hour and you’re straining, three hours and you’re ready to stage a retreat.

The past five days, we have moved from shovelling to leafleting to door-knocking, to door-knocking with food. I hope that doesn’t seem too upwardly mobile. The last activity is time-consuming but justified. Humanitarian need hides behind closed doors. Once encountered, it hides behind defiant human pride. Half the homes are deserted, many permanently. Of the remainder, maybe half are occupied by people who can cope – the middle-aged who are preparing to leave. The rest are the elderly and the infirm, and we’ve met a few. Without door-knocking, the world would not know of them.

We have arranged for water tankers to be relocated, for port-a-loos to be located, for cooked food and potable water to be delivered, for gas coupons to be distributed, for books to be handed over to relieve the tedium of home detention and the pain of a wrenching fear. We do not claim big miracles; tiny ones are sufficient.

The pride of the dispossessed wrenches at the emotions. The elderly come to the door. One has cancer, and her husband a heart condition. Another is recently widowed. Others remain fearful of eye. They hesitate when offered food. They have never accepted a hand-out before. They are proud of their past, and do not wish to lower their standards of self-reliance. They are the counterpoints to the looters roaming not far from where they live – in the primordial balance of good and evil that comprises human nature.

But they accept the offering and their eyes light up. Then they talk – telling tales of adversity and challenge, a week ago, a half-century ago. In earlier times, they had triumphed. Today, they are less sure. They are old, now. We reassure them. They thank us, with a superior wisdom and knowledge.

We do what we can, here in Christchurch. We shall rebuild. We shall have great challenges ahead, great decisions to make. We shall argue and oppose, and fall out with out each other over different judgements in the great human project that is democratic life. But the rebuilding will proceed.

Yet that is for the future. For now, for the present, this moment, we are one, at least down here where the wind blows and the moon-dust stirs. We shall remain one until the last body has been recovered, the last human fragment retrieved, the last funeral observed, the last body laid to rest, the final soul freed to soar to the heavens. Until that time, our small band, and the tens of thousands of others – the farmers and the students, the rescue teams and the army and the police, the counsellors and the officials – all of us will continue to perform tiny miracles together. We shall not be daunted by this greatest of natural disasters.

A small group of Greens are now attached to the Student Volunteer Army.

Yesterday, as a team of five, we were in Parklands. ( Thanks to Marilyn, Anne, Dot and Liz.  Thanks also to Nick, a local in Parklands.  And thanks to Dave for alerting us to the needs of the Parklands community.)

We went in, armed with 140 kg of apples that Marilyn and I had purchased wholesale price from an orchard near Loburn last night.  (Thanks to Annabel and Mark — friends and suppliers at the Canterbury Farmers’ Market.)

We  followed the Volunteer Army buses into Parklands in our two cars.  Each student has a shovel; it looks for all the world like the Peasants’ Revolt.

It is stunningly effective organization by the Canterbury students – their (not long for this world?) student union deserves a medal.

Then, in coordination with their groups, we separated off into and around the Parklands Baptist Church which is acting as a welfare centre, meeting with the minister and his assistants.

We off-loaded two-thirds of our apples there, and then took the rest with us for door-knocking, distributing the CCC emergency fliers.  We had a few humanitarian cases but they were not as exigent as yesterday – the area was wealthy, houses 4 years old, many with slight signs of structural damage which usually means quite significant repair required.

Much liquefacted soil, with heavy machinery operating; less sludge/sewerage than in New Brighton on Monday.  The official estimate at present (as I understand it) is 10,000 homes up for demolition and 100,000 damaged, out of some 150,000.

Most people we meet, over the past three days, say we are the first humanitarian visit they have had.

When the 12.51 silence came, the heavy machinery fell quiet, and our little band of six embraced in a circle off Lamorna Rd, Parklands, East Christchurch.  We crossed over a grassed mound at the side of the street into a glade of sad trees, with their trunks drowned in grey liquefaction.  Seemed the place to be.  The generators continued to hum.

We visited one Green member in need in Dallington.  No power, water, sanitation, food, or transport (cycling is a challenge through the thick silt). We shall bring her provisions today.

Other issues have involved pleas for portaloos for the elderly in a specific site and for food and gas (plus money) in others.  Working on those.

We do have a chance to do the new, green, environmentally sound, fantastically state-of-the-art, 21st-century place, that will attract the brains and the thinkers of the world to come and live here

That’s former Christchurch mayor Garry Moore quoted in today’s papers under the headline ‘Better, safer, city will emerge from ruins, former mayors say’.

So what steps exactly would make this vision a reality?   The same story quotes Gary Moore again: 

We lost a lot of our beauty and that has to be rebuilt, in a modern way. That would mean wooden, eco, three-storeyed buildings. I don’t want to see a brick building ever again

Ok, wooden construction, low-rise buildings.  What else? 

Remember that at least 755 central city buildings face demolition according to current estimate.   And there’s many thousands of residential homes that will also need to replaced.

I fly south the day after the earthquake-to-end-all-earthquakes. In the House, I had said on the day, “Whatever lies ahead, we shall not be daunted”.  The words race through my head, echo across the city, as I travel down Memorial Drive.  May I meet my own standards.  As we approach the inner city my gaze becomes fearful.  The first shock is Knox Presbyterian Church on Bealey Ave.  You can see through it – what is left of it.

At home, we have water but no power.  Marilyn has sat through the first night on her own, playing cards by candlelight.  Every aftershock, she blows out the candle, then re-lights it when it is safe.  A wind-up radio gives her comfort and keeps her informed. She is a survivor in so many ways.

The second night, a neighbour runs a cable from their garage into ours, then into our kitchen.  We had bought ice but we can now re-start the fridge, and we have one light.  The standard of living has just gone up, even though we bury our waste in the garden – no port-a-loo in the street yet.  But Marilyn and I share the second night together, and we sleep deeply.

Today I attend the MPs briefing at Civil Defence in the glorious Art Gallery, sublimating the sense of déjà vu. I am let through the cordon and walk past the Arts Centre down Worcester St., looking towards the Cathedral.  The Centre has taken a hit, losing turrets and displaying a crack down the front wall.  Its future will be in doubt.  The Cathedral is already a corpse.

Inside the Art Gallery it is all efficiency and bustle – they have been here before and know what they are doing. The briefing is useful and well-intentioned, but there are several nuances for each statement. Everyone is doing what they can.

The worst is afterwards.  I walk with Dora up Durham St. to check on my office.  As I round the corner, and look up Durham, there is no soul in sight for half a kilometre.  The cold wind whips the police tape with a crack, and I give an involuntary shudder. Liquefaction lines our gutter, fills our office car-park.  I walk unwillingly over it.  Our office building remains standing.  I peer through the window into my office.  It is intact but its occupant has deserted and it looks forlornly back.

I turn around and confront the Provincial Chambers.  It is a pile of stones and twisted scaffolding – a grotesque relic from the September rebuild.  A colleague who advises me on forestry had his office there.  If he were inside I hold little hope.  We had shared coffee, Monday morning.

Two doors from my office was the Methodist Mission Church.  Now there is just air.  Nothing else, just space.

One day I shall weep.  But not now.  I shall not be daunted. I have set my standards.

The agreement takes effect in the next session of Parliament.

Mr Carter can tell us whether he wishes to support or oppose and we will cast his vote accordingly.  (And we will use the Green Party’s position as a default if there are no specific instructions.)

Our sole aim is to help the voters of Te Atatū have their voice heard in Parliament. It is impractical, otherwise, for an independent MP to be present in the House for every vote on every Bill, every amendment, every motion, etc.

We have previously helped  Tariana Turia in a similar way.

It’s a small way to help an electorate maintain its representation in the House regardless of their MP’s circumstances.

There’s no obligation in this arrangement; we’ll keep exercising Mr Carter’s proxy as long as he’s an MP, or either party can withdraw should they wish.

For the record, Mr Carter has also transferred his supplementary questions to the Green Party, but retains the right to use the questions with prior notice.

Given the Government’s majority this term, the agreement may not have much material effect, but that’s not the point.  The point is that the people of Te Atatū have elected a Member of Parliament to represent them and, like all New Zealanders, they deserve full representation and for their vote to count. We are making that happen.

It is apparently pure coincidence that the NZTA announced the postponement of the public consultation process on 2nd November, the same day that Kapiti residents protested against the expressway outside the campaign launch of National Party Mana candidate Hekia Parata.

The change of date protects Parata from Melissa Lee-like gaffes and the frustration of locals who don’t want a motorway that has more costs than benefits and that cuts through a community.   

(Lee, to jog your memory, was the National candidate in last year’s Mt Albert by-election who imploded at a public meeting on the controversial Waterview motorway extension.)

The Greens Mana candidate Jan Logie points out that residents should be able to vote in the by-election with full information about the government’s plans for their community.

She also notes that the Greens alternative is to build the two-lane local Western Link Road, improve State Highway One, and transform the rail network into a fast, modern, reliable mass transit system.

The Transport Minister Stephen Joyce told Parliament today – with a straight face – that the Transport Authority reached the decision to delay independently.

Does anyone know how to contact the Tui billboard writers?

A reminder in the MSM today as to how lucky we are.  Lucky to be able to engage in a battle of ideas without fear.

Iranian-Canadian Hossein Derakhshan, nicknamed “the Blogfather” and credited with starting a blogging revolution in Iran, has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison….for co-operating with hostile countries, spreading propaganda and insulting religious figures.

We are a privileged few.

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By extension, it’s a great time for sponsors to bask in the Stags reflected glory and so, when prime real estate on the back of the Southland jerseys features a certain South Canterbury Finance, it seems something of a wasted opportunity.

So questions arise dear readers:

1. Would you like to see your Government, which effectively controls SCF, take over that advertising space?  And if so, what Government message would you promote?   “Pay your taxes,”  “ACC is awesome,” “Let’s tackle financial regulation”…?

2. Can anyone calculate how many years we’d need to retain the Stags jersey ads to recoup the net cost of the SCF bailout (let’s be sports and use John Key’s $400 million figure)?

3. Is there some Hubbard hoodoo at work, some mysterious mojo-correlation, between the SCF ads and the Stags’ success?  Note: only those qualified in sports superstitions should attempt to answer this question.  That means you’ve worn the same socks for every game of club soccer for the last 15 years or have an equivalent qualification. Please state your qualification at the top of you comment.

Above all there are those who have lost homes.  I know a few personally.  They shrug it off, avoiding self-pity.  They help others, even as they struggle to sort their own lives.  My Labour colleague, Brendon Burns, is one.

And there is the occasional drama. I speak with a young mother in Avonside.   She surveys her wooden cottage from the street.  Its sole brick wall has waltzed away from the rest of the house, closer my neighbour to thee.  It will require tender loving care – from engineers.

But the drama surrounds her 4-year old son.  He had clambered into a 1-metre deep culvert that had opened up after the ‘quake, with his tricycle.  The ground was still moving – the bike was ‘sand-blasted’ by moving sand, as he struggled to get out.  He succeeded, with help, and was now playing on the street, searching for further care-free life adventure.

Mostly the trauma is not the immediate housing – people are living with relatives or friends, or in temporary apartments, or in welfare centres.  The main trauma is the uncertainty – the longer-term prospect for re-building, or not, on their own properties; and their legal-financial futures.

There are those who are helping, but still feeling the stress.   I speak with a carpenter who is repairing a roof.  Precariously swaying on his ladder during each aftershock, he never has the time to nimbly alight onto what’s meant to be solid earth, so he just grips the guttering.  He freely admits to bursting into tears on two occasions, something he hasn’t done since childhood.  Yet he stays cheerful.

At a briefing for Christchurch MPs, Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee and Mayor Bob Parker speak of moving from emergency into recovery and on to reconstruction.  They give a sit-rep. on water, solid waste, buildings, roads, drainage, housing, schooling, welfare, counselling.  They speak of insurance and the equity issues arising from legal-financial complications over broken homes and terminal land.  Who pays for what?  How do you get Pareto optimality on communal recovery, Prime Minister?

But I must not be partisan. We are in this together and the Government and councils are doing a fine job.  Government legislation will be introduced into Parliament this week under Urgency, giving emergency powers to local authorities and other operators to avoid what they call ‘red tape’ in ‘fast-tracked’ reconstruction.  No doubt some of this will be necessary, but we must ensure that our reconstruction is not too hasty, and we take the opportunity to rebuild along sustainable lines.  I said as much in my statement to the House for the Greens.

The true heroes, I think, are the mid-level people – the engineering teams out on the streets, assessing, repairing, deciding the fate of structures.  Those manning the telephone banks and working computers in the civil defence headquarters.  Volunteering at the welfare centres – two friends whom I encounter at Addington.  The students whose social media instincts match their communal spirit and who volunteer into the field faster than the rest of us.  We are proud of you all – each of you deserves a medal.  Might Christchurch strike one?

I have been splitting my week between Wellington and Christchurch – early flights, intensive days, late nights.  But it has been an inspiring experience, to see Kiwis coping with real disaster.  We have survived a miracle. And we shall be stronger as a community, because of it.

That’s 25 years ago. 

Today,  spare a thought for Fernando Pereira, killed when the boat sank.

A cover of Anchor Me was made for the 20th anniversary. It’s a great song and a worthy tribute still.