When a new political party like Gareth Morgan‘s Opportunities Party (TOP) launches, its promoters obviously see a gap in the political line-up, an area where it can promote policies and actions that other parties aren’t. That’s why the environmental policy released by Gareth Morgan’s party released today is surprising. It’s a pick and mix of policies that the […]
This week, a large fire burnt down six homes near Whitianga and destroyed parts of the organic farm and community Wilderlands, a sustainable food producer since 1964. I first came to the Hauraki/Coromandel in 1972 and by then Dan and Edith Hansen had already established the open door commune on a regenerating hillside just south […]
The Sea Change Tai Timu Tai Pari report (Hauraki Gulf Marine Spatial Plan) launched last month makes a strong case for ending bottom trawling, purse seining, and dredging in the Gulf as fishing methods which damage the seabed. The report notes that there was “overwhelming support” for this in public surveys and consultation during the […]
* Yesterday, James Shaw and Eugenie Sage paid a visit to the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University to meet with leading climate scientists. James shares his reflections on their vital work. Something dramatic is taking place in the Antarctic. I’m sitting in a room at the Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University, Wellington, with some […]
Since the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2334, there has been more heat than light shed on the continuing Israel-Palestine crisis and the faltering prospects for peace. Israel, claiming it has been abandoned and betrayed by its traditional supporters, especially the United States, has reacted with unprecedented rage. But nobody has changed positions. The tendency […]
Homelessness is a disgrace. It’s ugly and dehumanising and I can’t bear to see it every day in my home town of Wellington. Unlike Sir Robert Jones, though, I’ve never thought about blaming the victims for their situation. That’s bully talk and Sir Robert should both be above that and also willing to look deeper […]
I don’t know who thought of it first but some years ago some petro-chemical chemist somewhere decided putting plastic into the products we buy to clean our bodies would give us extra oomph. And so producers added ‘microbeads’ to some of our toothpaste and facial scrubs and shampoo products; and most of us don’t even […]
The end of the year! 2016 has been…a mixed bag – Trump-ism, losing Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen et al, and the creeping malaise of a tired government. Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter shares her year. My highlights of 2016 This year, I got to do many exciting things and lead a range of campaigns […]
The end of the year! 2016 has been…a mixed bag – Trump-ism, losing Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen et al, and the creeping malaise of a tired government. Green Party MP David Clendon shares his year. My highlight of 2016 By giving my miserly side full rein, I managed to eke out funds to make a […]
The end of the year! 2016 has been…a mixed bag – Trump-ism, losing Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen et al, and the creeping malaise of a tired government. Green Party MP Mojo Mathers shares her year. My highlights of 2016 Moving to Peel Forest in South Canterbury has been just incredible. We’ve had heavy frosts, snow, […]
The end of the year! 2016 has been…a mixed bag – Trump-ism, losing Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen et al, and the creeping malaise of a tired government. Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty shares her year. My highlights of 2016 Sometimes I still think its 2015 but now this year is gone. It’s been a blender […]
The end of the year! 2016 has been…a mixed bag – Trump-ism, losing Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen et al, and the creeping malaise of a tired government. Green Party MP Barry Coates shares his year. My highlights of 2016 Definitely, the main highlight was entering Parliament, and having the opportunity to do a maiden speech. […]
It feels like 2016 was exceptionally busy – and this was confirmed when I checked my diary. Looking at just my Ethnic Communities portfolio, between February and December this year I visited or attended celebrations with 25 different organisations and groups. In the House I did 33 five minute speeches on 16 different bills including […]
Every year is special, but 2016 has been extraordinary. We are, I think, witness to two global revolutions, occurring simultaneously. One is of a world uniting. The other is of a world fragmenting. This push-and-pull, yin and yang, will go on, possibly forever, since they evoke two instincts deep in the human psyche. But this […]
The end of the year! 2016 has been…a mixed bag – Trump-ism, losing Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen et al, and the creeping malaise of a tired government. Green Party MP Gareth Hughes shares his year. My highlight of 2016 So many highlights! My two kids had a great year and are now both at school. […]
Lots of people are saying 2016 has been a bit of a shocker, with political events like Brexit and Trump; US Police shooting black people – and the emergence of Black Lives Matter; the death of legendary musicians like Bowie, Prince and Leonard Cohen (and let’s not forget Lemmy at the very end of 2015) […]
Last week I commented on the atrocity that was occurring in Syria, and asked what the world, and we here in New Zealand, might do. An associate-atrocity is occurring in the same region, in Yemen, but with less global scrutiny. The same questions need to be addressed. In a sense, the proxy support from the […]
I used to think that Treaty settlements were unfair because they forced hapū and iwi to sign away the ability to make future claims. I also used to think they were unfair because they marginalised anyone who the Crown did not accept as a ‘large natural grouping’. I started working on some settlement detail and discovered […]
Last week, I announced that I will not stand again at the next election. Don’t worry though, I’ll be in Parliament working hard until that date, which will be the end of my third term here. I’m leaving not because I am ungrateful for my extraordinary opportunities as a Green MP; it’s because it feels […]
Last week, our new PM Bill English announced his upcoming Cabinet, with Paula Bennett being appointed Minister for Women. Today, English said that he “doesn’t know what feminism means,” following on from Bennett’s earlier comments that she calls herself a feminist “some days”. Well. Not only do the Greens understand what feminism is, we work […]
It’s hard to be objective in today’s post-truth world. But we have to try. US intelligence officials have recently alleged that Russian actors influenced the 2016 election through hacking individuals and institutions, under the supervision of President Putin. The allegation is that while the intrusion began with a general intent to undermine the credibility of […]
Syria is the world’s current agony. The civil war is five years old. That is too long for a civil war. Ideally they would not occur at all. Once they occur, they should not be allowed to continue. What goes wrong? The global structures for handling conflict are undeveloped. The structures, principles and methods we […]
Every week, I get media alerts about unhealthy water, including algae risks at swimming spots and boil water notices in small towns. It got personal the other week when I went kayaking on a river and found a rash on my arms and legs wherever I had touched the water. The rash formed small itchy […]
We must uphold human rights everywhere. Recently, Amnesty International released a report detailing the widespread allegations of torture and police brutality in Fiji. Perhaps unsurprisingly it was met with defensiveness and claims of bias from the Fijian Government. But as the report makes clear, there has long been a culture of impunity and tolerance for […]
Last week we experienced one of those watershed moments in the tale of Auckland’s transport. The road to the airport became more car park than motorway; as a result dozens of flights were delayed, people missed their flights and had to foot the bill for costly changes. Gridlock at Auckland airport @AKL_Airport #welcometoNZ pic.twitter.com/tmfyLZbM43 — […]
You’d be forgiven for not noticing that the Government published a new draft energy strategy this week. It’s basically the same as the old energy strategy, which they published in 2011, but with one new target around industrial process emissions intensity. In short, it’s a missed opportunity that shows a lack of bold vision and […]
A recent New Zealand Herald article with the headline ‘International students ‘cheat system, take jobs’ is incredibly disappointing. It unfairly scapegoats international students and blames them for the conditions that have led to their systemic exploitation. Some facts first Let’s start off with some facts, shall we? Out of the 100,000+ students who are studying […]
The lesson from the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) should have been that it is time to re-think this type of so-called trade agreement. But despite warnings from internationally-recognised experts, there are more secretive “trade” negotiations happening this week, and the risks are huge. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being negotiated […]
This year I have been focused on getting a better deal for kids and families with learning needs such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, and autism spectrum. We had a Select Committee inquiry into the issues faced, but the Government was too scared to make the recommendations needed for actual change. Despite initiating the inquiry, I was […]
Earlier this week I posed some questions to Finance Minister Bill English about his support for the government’s plan to spend a billion dollars on a new prison. I was pretty disappointed in his answers, all of which flew in the face of his own comments in the past acknowledging that prisons were a moral and fiscal failure.
I took the opportunity to question the Reserve Bank Governor, Graeme Wheeler, about New Zealand’s lack of deposit protection in front of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee in Parliament yesterday.
Last week the Productivity Commission put out a report about how to grow “weak labour productivity”. These views are being criticised as being straight out of the 1980s. What is a real problem is that we have a problem of productivity gains not being passed on to workers.
The Green Party has campaigned for several years for mandatory palm oil labeling to give consumers choice. Most consumers do not want to support a palm oil industry that is destroying tropical rainforests and contributing to dangerous climate change emissions.
Cases of syphilis are increasing in Auckland. You read that right, syphilis! RNZ reported today that rates of syphilis have increased by 71 percent (between 2013-2015). We have known about the increase in syphilis figures for a while, but nothing seems to have been done about it. Staggeringly, in Auckland where rates are highest, the […]
The charade of this Government’s sound economic management is unraveling. Misleading GDP figures, pumped up by property speculation and high immigration, have given the impression that all is well, masking our continued productivity decline compared to OECD countries. In fact, we are near the top of the OECD in hours worked, but near the bottom […]
The death of Fidel Castro is a huge historical moment for the older generation who grew up with the toppling of Batista, the Bay of Pigs debacle, the death of Che Guevara and the US blockade against Cuba.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has more than halved the number of fisheries observers in the East Coast North Island snapper trawl fishery (SNA1). This reduction in observer days, combined with major failures in an unproven and controversial video monitoring system, means commercial trawlers in one of our most important fisheries are not being […]
Kua hinga he whatukura o Tauranga Moana. Kua hinga rangatira o te iwi Māori. Ka tangi tonu ana te ngākau nā tāna wehe kei tua o te ārai. E rere haere ana ngā mihi aroha o mātou o Te Rōpū Kākāriki ki te whānau pani me ngā tangata katoa huri noa i te whenua e […]
Yesterday, the Minister for Trade misused economic data in order to try to make the case for more so-called ‘trade agreements’ like the TPPA which are actually deregulatory straitjackets in disguise.
On Friday, the Minister for Food Safety, along with her Australian colleagues finally looked at the issue of mandatory palm oil labelling.