policy Archive

• 

  Population and Climate Change

  
  
  
  As greens, it seems pretty intuitive that runaway population growth is unsustainable. That argument rages in back rooms, but rarely gets much air in the media because it is such a controversial topic. read more
  September 28, 2009 10:37 am - 18 Comments
• 

  Climate science – another missing link is found

  
  
  
  It is the primary cry of the deniers and the false sceptics – “There is no definitive link between atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperature.” (I leave the genuine, scientific sceptics out – those who play a constructive role in challenging the science.) Last Friday, the new edition of Nature contained an article on just that [...] read more
  June 20, 2009 2:19 pm - 117 Comments
• 

  Why the National Party killed the pay-equity inquiries

  
  
  
  The Herald online highlighted the issue; The Government has axed two investigations aimed at improving the pay of women as it tries to save money by controlling public sector salaries. State Services Minister Tony Ryall said the investigations would “generate an additional form of remuneration pressure that is unaffordable in the current economic and fiscal environment”. It’s the [...] read more
  February 21, 2009 10:11 am - 70 Comments
• 

  15% organic by 2015

  
  
  
  One of the cornerstone policy points of the recently released Green Agriculture Policy is for New Zealand to be 15% organic by 2015. This may seem ambitious to some, but with the size of the world market, New Zealand´s entire national output could be organic and it would be a small player. So fears that [...] read more
  October 26, 2008 8:57 pm - 19 Comments
• 

  Greens’ preference for post election talks

  
  
  
  From the Greens Press Conference this afternoon: Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says: “However our analysis showed us that on the whole National would take New Zealand in the wrong direction, in fact, many policies headed off down a dead end street. This means that we can not form a Government with National, or support them on confidence [...] read more
  October 20, 2008 12:28 pm - 80 Comments
• 

  Fishy rhetoric

  
  
  
  This week the House debated the Fisheries Act 1996 Amendment Bill (No 2). This Bill simply allows for the Minister to set Total Allowable Catch (TAC) limits under the Quota Management Scheme (QMS) with incomplete information about the state of the fish stock. The Minister has to be able to [...] read more
  September 26, 2008 4:16 pm - 4 Comments
• 

  Nat’s forestry policy is Labour lite

  
  
  
  True to form, the National Party has released a forestry policy that leaves Labour’s policies completely unchanged, but whinges mightily about the RMA. What a yawn. The now familiar recipe goes like this; Ingredients: 1 Labour policy (ripe) 1 cup of meaningless statistics 1 National Party spokesperson 1 cup of self-righteous bile standard seasonings Implements: A dark, damp closet 1 re-usable RMA reduction casserole [...] read more
  September 24, 2008 2:25 pm - 3 Comments
• 

  Pike River Coal Mine gets a Gold Star from DoC

  
  
  
  Yeah, great work with the ducks and trees; now about all those carbon emissions… But the climate is not DoC’s responsibility of course, it’s just the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for the 25% of biodiversity the IPCC estimates may go extinct by the end of the century… At least the Greens made sure [...] read more
  September 15, 2008 5:34 pm - No Comments
• 

  Green’s Conservation Policy launched

  
  
  
  Ending Conservation Week in style, Metiria Turei today launched our conservation package [2Mb PDF], designed to significantly increase New Zealand’s commitment to protecting our precious natural environment. It includes a $100 million boost for the Department of Conservation, elevating the status of the Conservation Minister in Cabinet, and doubling pest [...] read more
  September 12, 2008 1:11 pm - 79 Comments
• 

  Children’s policy

  
  
  
  Sue Bradford has just released the Green Party’s Children’s Policy on the eve of the Every Child Counts Conference which starts tomorrow. As expected the policy signals the Greens will work to retain the amendments to s 59 of the Crimes Act.  It also has important health provisions (such as free dental care), environmental provisions (such [...] read more
  September 9, 2008 12:13 pm - 67 Comments