Keith Locke Archive

  • Keith Locke

    Chogm fails to challenge Sri Lanka on human rights - by Keith Locke



    Human rights was the loser at this year’s Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference (GHOGM). Endorsing Sri Lanka to host the next (2013) conference was a slap in the face for those calling for an independent international investigation into the 2009 massacre in northern Sri Lanka and an end to the ongoing persecution of the Tamils. To [...] read more
    October 31, 2011 12:17 pm - 5 Comments
  • frog

    Sue and Keith’s valedictory speeches - by frog



    Sue Kedgley and Keith Locke — two of the original seven Green MPs who came into Parliament in 1999 — are standing down from Parliament at this election. The House grants outgoing MPs a chance to reflect on their time in Parliament with a valedictory speech. You can watch Sue and Keith reflect on their [...] read more
    September 29, 2011 2:20 pm - 6 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Book reinforces Green criticism of NZ deployments to Gulf and Basra - by Keith Locke



    Nicky Hager’s Other People’s Wars, shows that New Zealand was more involved in the Iraq war than most people think. The book’s reinforces the points I was making at the time, that our Orion and frigate in the Gulf, and our army engineers in Basra, were actually assisting the US/UK war effort. Our frigate Te [...] read more
    September 4, 2011 5:21 pm - 12 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Taxi chats could be dangerous - by Keith Locke



    After a long week in Parliament I often have a pleasant chat with the taxi driver taking me to the airport. So I was disturbed to find out that the Wellington Combined cabs would be installing video cameras that also have voice-recording capability. Who knows where my private chats might end up, I thought. Thankfully, [...] read more
    June 22, 2011 3:17 pm - 11 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Auckland Burmese celebrate democracy leader’s 66th birthday - by Keith Locke



    Yesterday I spoke at an Auckland celebration of the 66th birthday of Burmese democracy leader (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Aung San Suu Kyi. She is now out of house detention, but the regime closely monitors her movements. On Wednesday she begins a tour around the country, to further test the limits of her freedom. [...] read more
    June 20, 2011 3:17 pm - 2 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Criticism of judge-only trial in Urewera case - by Keith Locke



    The Court of Appeal decision to uphold a judge-only trial in the “Urewera 18” case was slammed by Fran O’Sullivan in today’s Weekend Herald column. She rightly can’t see why the defendants should not “have their case heard by a jury of their peers.” The Crimes Act was amended in 2008 to allow a trial [...] read more
    April 2, 2011 8:44 pm - 15 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    New G-G welcome, but selection process questionable - by Keith Locke



    From my experience Jerry Mateparae is a decent fair-minded chap. It is hard to judge how he will go as the new Governor-General because I have heard him speak only in his recent role as Chief of Defence Force. He’s tended to steer away from anything particularly controversial. I’m not sure his official speeches are [...] read more
    March 8, 2011 5:35 pm - 9 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Lows and Highs in Christchurch - by Keith Locke



    Last week I spent some time in Christchurch, with family and friends, and went door-to-door distributing food and advice with the Green team in the hard-hit suburb of Aranui. Everyone is suffering trauma of one sort or another. My friend, who was in the Cathedral Café when the rocks came down. My relations with badly [...] read more
    March 5, 2011 5:09 pm - 5 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Key lets down the Egyptian people - by Keith Locke



    Most New Zealanders have been inspired by the huge mobilisation of Egyptians against the Mubarak dictatorship. “Mubarak must go now” has been the cry from the streets, but not from the White House – or the Beehive. When street protests began Hillary Clinton asked Mubarak to bring in ‘reforms’. As the protests grew American officials [...] read more
    February 3, 2011 10:32 am - 44 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Wikileaks gives impetus to Waihopai protest - by Keith Locke



    It was good to be part of the protest outside the Waihopai spybase on Saturday. It is a bit out of the way, so the numbers involved are never that large, but they do represent the concern of many New Zealanders that the presence of the base compromises the independence of New Zealand’s foreign policy. [...] read more
    January 25, 2011 8:54 am - 15 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Why NZ sent army engineers to Iraq in 2003 - by Keith Locke



    There has been outrage from Helen Clark, Phil Goff and Jim Anderton over a claim by a US Embassy official (in the Wikileaks documents) that: “Senior MOD officials (strictly protect) tell us it was not until Finance Minister Michael Cullen pointed out in a subsequent Cabinet meeting that New Zealand’s absence from Iraq might cost [...] read more
    December 22, 2010 12:01 pm - 6 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    What unpopular US intelligence targets did Clark authorise? - by Keith Locke



    David Keegan, the deputy US Ambassador in 2007, wrote in a cable that Helen Clark “has been willing to address [intelligence] targets of marginal benefit to New Zealand that could do her political harm if made public.” This is diclosed in a Michael Field article in this morning’s DomPost further analysing Wikileaks documents relating to [...] read more
    December 16, 2010 1:51 pm - 25 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Defend Wikileaks against US government attacks - by Keith Locke



    Prominent Australians, including Green Senator Bob Brown, have signed an Open Letter to Julia Gillard asking her to provide assistance to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in the face of the attacks he is facing, including threats of assassination. The letter says “such calls cannot be dismissed as bluster. Over the last decade, we have seen [...] read more
    December 9, 2010 5:31 pm - 45 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Is Waihopai helping the US spy on the UN? - by Keith Locke



    The latest Wikileaks documents on US spying on the UN are going to make it harder for our government to justify the Waihopai spy station. Waihopai’s main task is to intercept global communications for the US National Security Agency (NSA). The Wikileaks documents inform us that the US has been blatantly violating international conventions with [...] read more
    November 29, 2010 11:16 am - 38 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Iraqi Christians rally against violence - by Keith Locke



     One of the legacies of the US-led invasion of Iraq has been sectarian violence it unleashed, not only between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, but also against the Christian minority.  Yesterday I spoke to a gathering of 100 Iraqi Christians who met on the lawn in front of Parliament to mourn those who have been killed. [...] read more
    November 24, 2010 9:30 am - 11 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Right to silence cancelled - by Keith Locke



    It’s great that the NZ Herald, in an editorial this morning , recognises that “New Zealanders stand to lose some hard-won freedoms under a bill [the Search and Surveillance Bill] moving largely under the radar through Parliament.” Decoding that sentence, it means we should have taken the Greens and community organisations more seriously when they [...] read more
    November 12, 2010 2:44 pm - 4 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Removing ‘claim of right’ dangerous - by Keith Locke



    The government is a poor loser. It didn’t bother to appeal after it lost the ‘intentional damage’ case against the three men who pricked a dome at the Waihopai spybase. But it hasn’t let the matter rest. Last month it laid a $1 million damages claim against the men. To add insult to injury, Justice [...] read more
    November 4, 2010 2:36 pm - 19 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Latest terrorist designations undermine New Zealand’s role as a peacemaker - by Keith Locke



    One of my aims, as a Green MP, has been to get New Zealand to specialise in international peacemaking, using Norway as a model. Norway has used its good offices, and specialist advisers, to sponsor peace talks in Sri Lanka, Sudan, the Middle East, and the Philippines. It has been able to play this mediating [...] read more
    October 13, 2010 1:09 pm - 29 Comments
  • Keith Locke

    Waihopai protesters asked for beer money - by Keith Locke



    Talk about stupidity and vindictiveness. The Government Communications Security Bureau is claiming from the Waihopai Three protesters $256.38 for the beer drunk by workers repairing the plastic dome at the spybase.   Another invoice specifies $62.93 for savouries. The total damages claim against the three protesters is over $1 million. The court case will be micky [...] read more
    October 13, 2010 10:14 am - 125 Comments
  • frog

    It has to be time to roast the Pork Board - by frog



    The Pork Industry Board is a statutory agency. Yet it seems to assume it is a law unto itself, with powers even greater than the Police or the SIS. Agriculture Minister David Carter is either unable or unwilling to make it accountable. Surely it is time for an inquiry into the Board’s attempts on behalf of rogue farmers to subvert the requirement for piggery owners to maintain humane conditions for their animals. read more
    August 1, 2010 6:30 pm - 29 Comments
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