Green Party Archive

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  The day the raids came - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  On Friday night (October 15) I attended the launch of a book titled “The day the raids came” edited by Valerie Morse. This book reminds us that the October 15 2007 “terror raids” might be old news for most of the country but are an ongoing stress and cost for the 18 people still awaiting [...] read more
  October 18, 2010 1:34 pm - 2 Comments
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  The OIA and your right to know - by frog

  
  
  
  The Law Commission has just put out a discussion paper on the Official Information Act and how it can be improved. They want your input by the 10th of December. While having the OIA has clearly been a good thing, it could work a whole lot better in terms of timeliness and making sure people [...] read more
  September 30, 2010 10:49 am - 4 Comments
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  A favourite Canterbury business succeeds - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  It was a big weekend for a small Canterbury business, South Pacific Motorcycle Tours, based a few k’s west of Kaiapoi.  I’m a bit of a fan of this operation, having earlier in the year been a very satisfied customer when Lindis and I hired one of their bikes for an all too brief ‘R&R’ [...] read more
  September 10, 2010 11:35 am - No Comments
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  Obama and Greens encourage support for small business - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  I’m not suggesting that Barack Obama has been keeping an eye on our Green party policy, but his recent highlighting of the economic and social value of small business certainly rings some familiar bells! read more
  August 19, 2010 5:35 pm - 20 Comments
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  Doing the business with businesses - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  July has been a busy month so far, especially for my small business portfolio.  On Monday 5th July I hosted a Smart Business breakfast in Christchurch. It was a  cosy meeting (despite the frosty morning!) at the ‘Under the Red Verandah’ cafe  with a diverse bunch of people including representatives from the renewable energy sector, coffee  roasting  industry [...] read more
  July 26, 2010 12:08 pm - 9 Comments
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  Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  On Monday I had the privilege of listening to the presenting a summary of his role. It was the only public seminar of his visit so it was great to be there to hear his comments. Professor James Anaya is from several New Mexico tribes including Apache and is the first Special Rapporteur to actually be indigenous. [...] read more
  July 21, 2010 11:39 am - 9 Comments
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  Second strike for private prison corporation - by frog

  
  
  
  There have now been two damning reports on G4s running of prisons and detention centres in the last couple of weeks.   G4S is a multinational private prison corporation that is in the bidding to run Mt Eden– Auckland Central remand prison.  This week – the British Chief Inspector of Prisons found that the G4S run Gatwick [...] read more
  July 16, 2010 10:43 am - 5 Comments
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  Behind the scenes at Kiwirail - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  It has been a busy and interesting ‘day one’ of my week’s secondment to Kiwirail, organised by the NZ Business and Parliament Trust.  The idea of the Trust is to give MPs an up close appreciation of the workings of a selected business, and for the business people to get better acquainted not only with [...] read more
  July 12, 2010 5:06 pm - 4 Comments
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  Victory for Parliamentary democracy–Greens can be proud - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  This week has seen parliamentary democracy in New Zealand at its best. Most of the time, the House reverberates with two forms of adversarial action: Question Time when the trick is (usually) to score a ministerial goal – and for the ministerial goalie to defend; Debates over legislation in which supporting parties rationalise a draft [...] read more
  July 3, 2010 3:12 pm - 4 Comments
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  Co-operating to compete - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  We had a ‘meet and greet’ this week with representatives from Zespri. (DISCLAIMER: the nice things I am going to say about them must be read in the full knowledge that we were gifted with and rapidly consumed some very tasty examples of Kiwifruit.  The slippery slope to bribery and corruption starts here?) But seriously, the [...] read more
  June 25, 2010 3:27 pm - 2 Comments
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  “Whatever You Do, Keep Your Head Down”: The Non-Key to Non-Aggression - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  The NZ Government under John Key has displayed its pusillanimity on the question of international law and security – once more. In answer to a question in the House yesterday, the Foreign Minister (actually the Attorney-General in his absence, which guaranteed an articulate exchange) stated that New Zealand will not ratify, over the next seven [...] read more
  June 24, 2010 5:36 pm - 5 Comments
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  Energy security and business - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  An interesting document has come out of Lloyd that reveals some of their thinking about energy security, and the risks and opportunities it provides for business. Lloyds point out that 300 years of experience has given them a bit of an understanding of risk, and it is from that platform that they suggest that now is a really good time to get serious about finding ‘a new energy paradigm’. read more
  June 23, 2010 9:00 am - 5 Comments
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  First Smart Business breakfast a great success - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  This morning I hosted my first Smart Business breakfast event  at the Long Room in Ponsonby, Auckland. We had a  great  turnout,  a good mix of familiar faces and ‘new’ people we met for the first time.    Some really topical issues were raised, like how small business can get access to training and other support; how a co-operative model could [...] read more
  June 18, 2010 11:56 am - 7 Comments
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  Mine waste, not National Parks - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  I hope Gerry Brownlee and his pro-mining supporters read Good magazine. In the latest issue there is a very informative article “Sitting on a Gold Mine” that confirms that there is plenty of gold already above ground, and begs the question of why we would sacrifice our conservation estate to dig up any more. Quoting [...] read more
  June 14, 2010 12:23 pm - 11 Comments
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  Supercity saga continues - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  The Auckland Transition Agency has revealed a few more drips and drops of information, and we now know (roughly) who will be housed where in the brave new world of Supercity. read more
  June 1, 2010 9:58 am - 10 Comments
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  Even more outstanding evidence slamming ‘Three Strikes’ law - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  The Californian State auditor has released a very frank, and frankly chilling, assessment of the consequences of that State’s ‘3 strikes’ legislation.  The prison population in California now numbers close to 177,000. The ‘highlights’ of the report tell us that : Inmates incarcerated under the three strikes law (striker inmates): Make up 25 percent of [...] read more
  May 20, 2010 10:31 am - 30 Comments
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  The ‘Our Auckland’ results are in - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Congratulations to the crew at ‘Our Auckland’ who did what the government has singularly failed to do, and gave Aucklanders a chance to vote on what they thought of the government’s plan to set up the new Auckland council. A remarkable 96% rejected the government’s proposal; 95% do not think that enough attention has been [...] read more
  May 20, 2010 9:19 am - 1 Comment
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  A day to remember as Waikato River Settlement Bill passes into law - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Things must have been fairly quiet in parts of the Waikato yesterday (May 6th).  That’s because an awful lot of ‘the locals’ were in Wellington, filling the galleries and the Grand Hall at Parliament, to witness up close and personal the passing of the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill. It was a remarkable [...] read more
  May 7, 2010 10:32 am - 5 Comments
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  Will the Supercity include ‘corporate sustainability’? - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Caught up on an interesting discussion on Celsias about the likelihood of ‘corporate sustainability’ positions being included or not at our wonderful (?) new Supercity.   It would be a real shame for all concerned if they are foolish enough to not employ a good team of people who can drive both the new organisation’s ‘in house’ [...] read more
  May 5, 2010 10:10 am - 2 Comments
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  UN slams prisoner voting ban - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  The UK has come under heavy criticism from both the UN and the Council of Europe for its ban on prisoners’ voting. Despite this John Key’s Government is pushing ahead with the Electoral (Disqualification of Convicted Prisoners) Amendment Bill to disenfranchise prisoners. They have provided no evidence that this bill will achieve anything, and it [...] read more
  April 28, 2010 12:51 pm - 27 Comments