Frogblog

1February 20, 2013
First blind Scottish MP visits NZ

I had the privilege of meeting with Dennis Robertson, a Member of the Scottish Parliament who made waves by being...
4February 13, 2013
Benny Wenda’s Freedom Tour a great success

This week Benny Wenda from ‘Free West Papua’ and Jennifer Robinson of International lawyers for West Papua brought the “Freedom...
6February 7, 2013
Reflections on Waitangi Day

Waitangi this year had many highlights overlooked by the media. Metiria, Kennedy, Denise, David, myself and other young Greens and...

Whales needlessly dying on the doorstep of our largest city - by Gareth Hughes

Imagine if a Japanese whaling fleet every year came down to New Zealand and hunted and killed two critically endangered whales in the Hauraki Gulf, just off Auckland? read more
March 6, 2013 4:28 pm - 4 Comments
Family First, own goals and desperate measures - by Kevin Hague

I guess Family First is in a hard position. They really don’t want Louisa Wall’s marriage equality bill to succeed but they’re faced with a situation where most New Zealanders support it, where it passed its First Reading with an emphatic majority, and where the Select Committee that heard submissions has given the Bill a [...] read more
March 5, 2013 5:15 pm - 12 Comments
Welfare cuts challenged by the UN - by Jan Logie

Yesterday the United Nations released a letter to the Australian Government asking them to explain their welfare cuts. UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and the working group on discrimination against women are warning the cuts could have a detrimental effect on the human rights of up to 100,000 Australians, and could [...] read more
March 5, 2013 4:57 pm - 6 Comments
John Key needs to raise killings of unionists during Colombia visit - by Denise Roche

While John Key is pushing the cause of free trade in Colombia, he needs to raise concerns around the appalling number of trade unionists that die protecting workers’ rights there. In 2011, according to the International Trade Union Confederation 29 trade unionists were murdered in Colombia. Colombia is a violent society where helping to organise [...] read more
March 5, 2013 2:17 pm - 4 Comments
Who counts on Census day? - by Jan Logie

Having worked in a university I know quite directly how vital census information is. This information is the lifeblood of research and planning. Like the TV advertisement says – we use it to design our cities, plan our services, develop business plans, and even decide what language books to have in our libraries. When filling [...] read more
March 5, 2013 1:51 pm - 13 Comments
From 100% to 5% - by Russel Norman

The Government has suggested that up to 90% of shares will be owned by New Zealanders, and Treasury’s figures show that around 5% of all New Zealanders will be able to afford to buy shares. Without even thinking of the Australian share float, which will dilute Kiwi ownership, the asset sales program is about a [...] read more
March 5, 2013 11:13 am - 170 Comments
Police move to protect cyclists - by Kevin Hague

In 2011, I discovered that the Police were failing in their duty of care to cyclists when it came to policing bicycle safety. The Police weren’t keeping any meaningful records on bicycle accidents reported by the public on their Community Roadwatch site. Now that’s changed: This small addition will make the world of difference to [...] read more
March 5, 2013 9:49 am - 9 Comments
General debate, March 3, 2013 - by frog

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March 3, 2013 7:08 am - 22 Comments
Give postgrads a chance - by Holly Walker

Cutting student allowances to all postgraduates is short-sighted policy that pulls the rug out from under thousands of students. Many cannot work part-time due to course requirements to fill the deficit, meaning they will have to walk out of their courses. It will also add millions to student debt as students who relied on allowances [...] read more
March 1, 2013 1:45 pm - 7 Comments
More damn statistics and Women in Canterbury - by Jan Logie

I know I just wrote a post yesterday critiquing the Government’s choice of statistics, and no-one wants to read continual disputes over statistics but the following statements from Paula Bennett’s media release today are just too provoking: “I also recall dire predictions that Cantabrians would go onto benefits in huge numbers post-quake, but in fact [...] read more
February 28, 2013 6:03 pm - 8 Comments
Tame Iti and the Mana Motuhake of Tuhoe - by Catherine Delahunty

A quiet road outside Hamilton, the Hukanui Marae car park is full of journalists. Hone Harawira, David Clendon, I and a few others are welcomed on by Ngāti Wairere. This is Tame Iti’s mother’s marae so on the first day of freedom he comes here to start his journey home. Tame is in the wharekai [...] read more
February 28, 2013 9:32 am - 65 Comments
Statistics damn statistics - by Jan Logie

Yesterday we found out the National Party’s welfare reform agenda, Future Focus, is getting results. Prior to Future Focus there was no work expectation on sole parents until their youngest child was 18 years old. “More than 10,600 sole parents on the DPB with children over six years old are now earning more than $100 [...] read more
February 28, 2013 9:23 am - 8 Comments
Marriage equality – the submissions against - by Kevin Hague

I haven’t blogged this year yet on the Marriage Equality Bill, but it has in fact been a major focus for me. I know some opponents of the Bill are trying to kick up a fuss about lots of submitters who wanted to make an oral submission not getting the opportunity, but having read literally [...] read more
February 27, 2013 10:25 am - 8 Comments
WHO study highlights dangerous chemicals - by Catherine Delahunty

Chemicals are the building blocks of life but synthetic chemicals in numerous combinations can be incredibly dangerous. A new study by the WHO has alarming news that over 800 chemicals are known or suspected to be EDCs (endocrine disrupting chemicals). Our endocrine system is our hormone system, which means that ECDs are capable of interfering [...] read more
February 26, 2013 5:55 pm - 24 Comments
John Banks: learn a little history? - by Metiria Turei

Charter schools are no joke. What’s funny, however, is John Banks’ referring to the opponents of charter schools as “Cassandras”, seemingly unaware that back in the day, poor old Cassandra was famous for her prophetic insight and the fact that her accurate warnings were ignored. John Banks probably didn’t intend to suggest the Green Party [...] read more
February 26, 2013 4:13 pm - 18 Comments
Protecting our tuna/eels – Tuna legend Bill Kerr - by Eugenie Sage

Bill Kerrison is a legend when it comes to tuna or eels and it was privilege to meet him during a recent Dirty Water tour in the Bay of Plenty. Over several decades he has transferred an estimated 25 million eels around Bay of Plenty dams such as the Matahina on the Rangitaiki River. New [...] read more
February 25, 2013 5:22 pm - 4 Comments
Ralph Hotere, making small holes in the silence - by Holly Walker

Although I didn’t study law, I spent a bit of time in the law building at Otago University during my five years there, either for LAWS 101 lectures and tutorials in my first year, debates and fixtures for the Otago University Debating Society, or visiting lawyer friends in their offices there later on. Every time [...] read more
February 25, 2013 10:22 am - No Comments
General debate, February 24, 2013 - by frog

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February 24, 2013 7:29 am - 185 Comments
Lignite coal to stay in the hole - by Gareth Hughes

I am celebrating today after the news that Solid Energy will be dropping its Lignite project in Southland. This is a win for the climate and our environment and for Southland. read more
February 22, 2013 3:50 pm - 20 Comments
Removing discrimination: one small step at a time - by Mojo Mathers

One of the biggest challenges that many disabled people face is negative attitudes towards them, and assumptions made by others that their lives are not worth living, which can lead to systematic discrimination. Antenatal screening programmes, such as the national screening programme for Down syndrome are controversial, because if they are not carried out appropriately, [...] read more
February 21, 2013 7:00 pm - 5 Comments
Wheeler on the death of manufacturing etc. etc. - by Russel Norman

It’s interesting to compare yesterday’s speech by Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler with Sir Paul Callaghan’s vision for a prosperous New Zealand. Wheeler describes New Zealand’s manufacturing sector as a sunset industry, in terminal decline due to globalisation, competition from low wage countries, and a shift to a service intensive economy. It’s the kind of [...] read more
February 21, 2013 5:27 pm - 26 Comments
Speculating on spectrum - by Gareth Hughes

Today Communications Minister Amy Adams announced the Government’s plans for allocating the 700MHz spectrum that has been freed up by the switchover to digital TV. It’s a big deal for New Zealand and I’m urging that the Government engage and consult with Māori and the public over the opportunities. The public should get a say. read more
February 21, 2013 4:12 pm - 32 Comments
Christchurch schools – proposals or promises? - by Catherine Delahunty

At the schools rally in Christchurch on Tuesday, Board Members and parents were talking about the promise broken by the Minister of Education. A number of schools such as Central New Brighton and Branston Intermediate had been clearly told they would have until the end of 2014 to prepare for merger or closure. The announcement [...] read more
February 21, 2013 12:12 pm - 16 Comments
Give postgrads a chance - by Holly Walker

The Otago Daily Times is today reporting figures from the Ministry of Education that show that, as a result of the Government’s cuts to student allowances, an extra 5140 student will be forced to borrow money through the student loan scheme for living costs – or be more reliant on borrowing than before. On average, [...] read more
February 21, 2013 10:57 am - 6 Comments
The Beneficiary Rabbit - by Jan Logie

SkyCity, the closure of Christchurch schools, leaving troops in Afghanistan – it was never going to be a particularly easy week for the government. But to their political, if not moral, credit, the government seems to have planned for this and introduced the Social Security (Fraud Measure and debt Recovery) Amendment Bill. It’s strange how [...] read more
February 20, 2013 8:23 pm - 37 Comments