Kevin Hague Archive

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  Rena Oil Spill – Day Ten - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Green Party member Renee Annan and I drove into the car park at Maketu Surf Club. Clumps of people were wandering around and there was a small pile of contaminated sand bags on the edge of the beach. We had no idea how bad the problems were at Maketü but we figured talking to the [...] read more
  October 17, 2011 7:58 am - 3 Comments
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  Blueprint for safer queer youth - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Last week I had the chance to participate in several of the events in the Hamilton Pride Festival for queer and transgendered people in the Waikato. I spent my secondary school years at Hamilton Boys High School, so I really valued the opportunity to launch there a landmark new report by Murray Riches entitled “How [...] read more
  September 29, 2011 8:13 am - 1 Comment
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  Where are you now, Mr. Key? - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  I have spent a bit of time in  Courthouses. They are typically depressing places, cold, hard, unwelcoming; the people angry, fearful, resigned. The Greymouth Courthouse is a new one. The waiting room is well lit. There are paintings on the walls, carpet on the floor. Yet those same feelings are almost palpable, along with a [...] read more
  September 9, 2011 12:37 pm - 19 Comments
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  Pike Inquiry reveals regulation shambles - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Thanks to my awesome Caucus colleagues I have been given leave from Parliament this week to attend the first week in this second phase of the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry. The Green Party was one of the voices calling for an inquiry with wide terms of reference, that families and mine workers could [...] read more
  September 8, 2011 7:58 pm - 13 Comments
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  Riding the first of the on-road Cycle Trails - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  This weekend, I got to ride big parts of the 180km route from Taumarunui to New Plymouth. The ride was a celebration of the opening of the first on-road component of Nga Haerenga, the New Zealand Cycle Trail. The weekend had a bit of everything: gorgeous scenery, local hospitality, wide-eyed children, even local political drama. [...] read more
  August 24, 2011 10:50 am - 11 Comments
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  Exciting next phase in National Cycle Network - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  I’m writing this from the Overlander train, heading North to Taumarunui. Tomorrow morning I’m part of an event there to launch the next phase of Nga Haerenga: the New Zealand Cycle Trail Network. Nga Haerenga is a joint project of the Green and National parties – Green cycling expertise and Government money. You may remember [...] read more
  August 19, 2011 9:43 am - 2 Comments
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  Misuse of parliamentary procedure to change Misuse of Drugs Act - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Today Parliament debated a proposal from Peter Dunne to change the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill to allow him to ban any substance that might cause harm, essentially by decree. The original bill — which went through the health select committee in November last year — was flawed to begin with. The original bill was [...] read more
  August 3, 2011 9:19 am - 10 Comments
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  Labour’s adoption approach underwhelming at best - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Labour MP (and perhaps crucially candidate for Auckland Central) Jacinda Ardern announced last week that she will seek to introduce a Member’s Bill to require the Law Commission to update its previous advice on adoption law and draft a bill to overhaul the current law in this light. Readers may well have heard me talk previously [...] read more
  August 2, 2011 8:18 pm - 12 Comments
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  What are the Police doing about bike safety? - by frog

  
  
  
  Many of us love to ride bikes. It’s a great way to get around, keep fit, beat the traffic, and save the planet. But it’s not as safe as it should be. Green Party Active Transport spokesperson and champion of all people who ride bikes, Kevin Hague, recently discovered that Police do very little with [...] read more
  July 4, 2011 1:14 pm - 10 Comments
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  Mine safety improvements needed NOW - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  When someone heads off to work in the morning, they have a right to expect that their workplace is as safe as it can possibly be, and that they will return home again after work, safe and well. In the immediate aftermath of the Pike River mine disaster Cabinet ministers, most notably John Key himself [...] read more
  June 23, 2011 1:52 pm - 3 Comments
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  Police fail cyclists elsewhere too - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  It seems the Police are not only failing cyclists here in New Zealand but abroad. In fact, a quick search of YouTube reveals dangerous driving behaviour in all those countries where the car is still king, especially in Australia, the UK, and the USA. This clip from New York shows how one cyclist is fighting [...] read more
  June 14, 2011 12:50 pm - 1 Comment
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  Police failing duty of care to cyclists - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Have you ever lodged a Community Roadwatch report documenting dangerous driver behaviour on our streets only to get the feeling later on that nothing has been done about it? I have, and when I used the Official Information Act to find out if my experience as a cyclist was shared by others, the Police couldn’t [...] read more
  June 13, 2011 8:53 am - 37 Comments
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  Kevin Hague talks to Pasifika on ACC privatisation - by frog

  
  
  
  Last week, Green ACC spokesperson Kevin Hague and Pasifika lawyer Amelia Saafi were interviewed on Pacific Viewpoint, a programme broadcast on Triangle/Stratos. The interview is 27 minutes long, but it’s well worth a watch to see Kevin and Amelia expose the Government’s economy with the truth in manufacturing a “crisis” in ACC in order to [...] read more
  June 11, 2011 7:49 am - 13 Comments
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  Happy International Nurses Day - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Happy International Nurses Day to all nurses in New Zealand. And happy birthday Florence Nightingale, whose influence on the nursing profession was profound, and who would have been 191 today. The theme of International Nurses Day 2011 is increasing access and equity, and it is particularly timely. Next week’s budget will see cuts across a [...] read more
  May 12, 2011 1:20 am - 10 Comments
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  Blackball Mayday Speech - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  While some others were focused on political events elsewhere in the country, I was in Blackball for the annual Mayday celebrations and for the launch of a memorial wheel for those who have lost their lives in West Coast mines in recent years, most notably the Pike River 29. Families had made tiles with the [...] read more
  May 1, 2011 11:59 am - 2 Comments
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  Time for another inquiry into ACC medical assessments - by frog

  
  
  
  The NZ Herald today reports on orthopaedic surgeon Brian Otto who featured in an ACC appeal judgment from the District Court recently: Liangfang Lu, 48, was awarded about $5000 after Auckland District Court Judge Martin Beattie found ACC wrongly suspended payments to him on the basis that his back pain was caused by degeneration. read more
  April 20, 2011 3:01 pm - 4 Comments
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  Pink Shirt Day on April 14th - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  You know you have one. Time to get it out. Russel Norman says I have to iron mine. April 14th is Pink Shirt Day, a day when everyone around the country is encouraged to make a visual display of our abhorrence of bullying. read more
  April 7, 2011 11:29 am - 5 Comments
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  Back to the future with ACC experience rating - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  There are quite a number of nasty legislative and regulatory provisions coming into force today.  Among them are Nick Smith’s Experience Rating Regulations for ACC. Experience rating will result in an individual employer’s ACC levies being adjusted up or down on the basis of their work injury record.  The idea is supposedly that individual employers [...] read more
  April 1, 2011 2:01 pm - 4 Comments
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  Folding cycles to be encouraged on Wellington’s trains - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Greater Wellington Regional Council are about to finalise their rules for allowing bicycles on trains. They’re proposing to continue to allow bikes to ride free (where space is available) on all trains except for the new Matangi trains during peak hours. Folding bicycles, however, will be allowed on all trains at all times. Folding bikes [...] read more
  March 18, 2011 8:02 am - 9 Comments
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  Thoughts from the Big Gay Out - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  I am the gayest man in Parliament. Everybody knows. So it was a bit galling to get essentially upstaged by John Key and Phil Goff. Perhaps I’m just a bit self-absorbed, but this strikes me as suggesting a weird prism through which at least some straight people see this queer event. Let’s review: I started [...] read more
  February 17, 2011 4:42 pm - 25 Comments