national party Archive

  • Catherine Delahunty

    Schools should appoint their own principals - by Catherine Delahunty



    I am concerned by media reports that the Ministry of Education is considering taking off boards of trustees the role of hiring their school’s principal. Rumours about such a significant proposal should not be swirling around in the media without a confirmation or denial from the Ministry. School boards and parents should be formally notified [...] read more
    December 19, 2011 7:42 pm - 9 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Democracy, secrecy, and good process. - by David Clendon



    On Thursday, Keith Locke and I spent a good part of the day in the House going to bat against the government’s ‘secret squirrel’ bill to amend the Police Act that Frog blogged on earlier .  Our objections to the bill were matters both of process and substance.  I want to comment here just on the process, which was appalling, [...] read more
    August 19, 2011 12:24 pm - 5 Comments
  • frog

    g.blog’s resurrection, and that of Bob Clarkson - by frog



    Many current frogblog readers probably won’t have heard of g.blog. g.blog was set up before the 2008 election, but has been in hibernation for a while.  It is a blog where any Green Party member can post. If you are a Green member,  all you need to do to get posting rights at g.blog is [...] read more
    June 1, 2011 6:19 pm - 6 Comments
  • frog

    Space Oddity – the David Farrar version - by frog



    This is ground control to Major Don, you’ve really made the grade And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare If I was a member of the ACT Board, I would be asking why are all these National Party members trying to take [...] read more
    April 25, 2011 5:44 pm - 14 Comments
  • frog

    Greens could lead Government in Germany, and here… - by frog



    The Greens are now the largest opposition party in Germany, according to a poll commissioned by news magazine Stern. Support for the center-left environmentalist party has risen to 28 percent, seven points higher than in the previous survey. The Social Democrats (SPD), traditionally Germany’s largest center-left party, are polling at 23 percent. Add up the numbers! read more
    April 8, 2011 6:46 pm - 9 Comments
  • frog

    Cricket World Cup: Something for New Zealand to be proud of - by frog



    At least New Zealanders have something to bolster our spirits at the moment. New Zealand are the only non-Asian team left in the Cricket World Cup. How about that! South Africa gone (defeated by New Zealand), Australia gone, England gone, West Indies gone! We may have a Government that is clueless about the economy, has [...] read more
    March 27, 2011 7:40 pm - 1 Comment
  • Russel Norman

    Blue Greens addition to Lake Ellesmere Te Waihora - by Russel Norman



    One of the initiatives of National’s Blue Greens was to extend the length of time that one farmer could continue to graze the edges of Lake Ellesmere Te Waihora near Christchurch. This is what they are adding to the lake: Yep, that’s a lot of cow pats next to the lake (photo from 2005) - faeces just waiting [...] read more
    February 8, 2011 10:02 pm - 4 Comments
  • David Clendon

    Green ravings = government policy, apparently. - by David Clendon



    My second favourite comic strip is Matthew Hooton’s weekly contribution to the National Business Review. The NBR is a useful read – its political perspective and analysis is generally different from mine, and they break some interesting stories. In the latest (December 3rd) issue, Mr Hooton reveals that, “…everyone from Mr [Trevor] Mallard to Mr [...] read more
    December 6, 2010 8:00 am - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Crash National’s party – protest against attacks on work rights - by frog



    The NZCTU are organising a protest against National’s attacks on workers rights – outside the National Party Conference: Sky City Hotel, Main Entrance 72 Victoria Street West, Auckland City, this Sunday 18th July, 10.00am. If you live in Auckland, try to make it along. read more
    July 17, 2010 12:39 pm - 55 Comments
  • frog

    National reveals its anti-worker colours - by frog



    John Key’s Government has won a lot of plaudits for being “Labour-lite”, and that has probably helped sustain its consistently high opinion poll ratings. But today the Government revealed its true colours. No more “Labour-lite” – this National-led government has now revealed itself as hard right wing and anti-worker. read more
    July 15, 2010 7:41 pm - 61 Comments
  • frog

    Love it, Don’t mine it - by frog



    This week saw the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day. There have been events marking the occasion all around the country, many sponsored by the Green Party. These culminate today with events in Auckland, Thames, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin. Our Green MPs will be there and invite you to join them in sending [...] read more
    April 24, 2010 6:03 am - 5 Comments
  • frog

    FPP: A perverse affront to democracy - by frog



    Today the Electoral Referendum Bill will have its First Reading in Parliament, so it is timely to recall how much of a perverse affront to democracy the First Past the Post (FPP) electoral system New Zealanders threw out in 1993 was. read more
    April 22, 2010 12:33 pm - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Podcast: Natural health – a new direction - by frog



    On Friday the Green and National Parties released a proposal to establish a new stand-alone New Zealand regulator for natural health products. Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley has been collaborating with Health Minister Tony Ryall and Associate Health Minister Jonathan Coleman on the proposal. This work is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) [...] read more
    March 22, 2010 10:29 am - 4 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Privatisation in education legislation - by Catherine Delahunty



    The word opposition doesn’t always describe Labour’s voting patterns. In fact, Labour have voted with National almost exactly as often as the Maori Party, even though Labour is the official opposition, and the Maori Party is actually part of the Government! [For the political junkies, Labour have voted with National 12 times at first readings, [...] read more
    March 19, 2010 2:46 pm - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Global concern at Nats’ plan to mine national parks - by frog



    Scrutiny of Government plans to mine our conservation lands is deepening internationally. And it’s got people hot on Facebook too. The Sunday Star Times ran a powerful feature on the weekend called “Picture imperfect”. It looks at international concern at New Zealand’s environmental performance, including National’s plan to mine conservation land: IT’S JUST a stock-take [...] read more
    December 7, 2009 8:30 pm - 10 Comments
  • frog

    What Would Rod Say? - by frog



    This first anniversary of the National-led government is also the fourth anniversary of the death of former Green Party Co-Leader, Rod Donald. With the many retrospectives being written about the “new” government, my thoughts turn today to what Rod might have thought about the developments of the last year. There’s been commentary claiming the government [...] read more
    November 6, 2009 5:33 pm - 68 Comments
  • frog

    Mokihinui – Brownlee’s burp - by frog



    So this week our Minister of Mining and Damming (aka Energy and Resources) let slip that the Mokihinui hydro-dam “would not go ahead”. Does he know something or was it just his ‘opinion’? Whatever the brain-burp was, he was ill-advised to say it but it’d be nice to think that there may be Moki fans in Government – perhaps they are closet readers of the 1400-fan facebook page! read more
    November 5, 2009 10:16 pm - 28 Comments
  • frog

    Burning the Mona Lisa to cook dinner - by frog



    Well known conservative commentator Thomas Friedman contends that destroying our biodiversity to fuel unregulated economic growth is like burning the Mona Lisa to cook dinner. The issue of how we should treat natural capital in our economy resurfaced today in a new economic think-tank report. read more
    November 3, 2009 3:49 pm - 11 Comments
  • frog

    Think our native forests were safe? Think again. - by frog



    “Agricultural intensification over the past 10 years has led to the highest rate of native vegetation loss since European colonisation.” Landcare Research Annual Report read more
    November 2, 2009 11:29 am - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Green Oral Question for today - by frog



    In Parliament today, the Green Party’s Questions for Oral Answer (number 3) is from Russel Norman to the Minister of Finance, Bill English: Does he stand by his statement that “water assets will not be privatised as a result of the restructuring” of local government; and if so, how does he reconcile it with Cabinet’s [...] read more
    October 29, 2009 11:42 am - 30 Comments
Older entries »