The Green Party co-leader says that despite recent setbacks in the local effort to be more mature about the our place in the world, we should still persist in trying to make New Zealand a better place to live. Actually I may have said that, but the sentiment is still there.
We talk about plastic bags and New World’s backward decision in removing the charge for them in the lower North Island. Also Gerry Brownlee is going prospecting on Department of Conservation land and the National Government has abandoned an effort to get more fuel efficient cars into New Zealand.
The Green Party co-leader joins us from the Hutt River today where he is taking pictures of a pesky weir that is preventing native fish from swimming upstream. We ponder the wisdom of raising GST or introducing a capital gains tax, before leaving Russel to take a dip in the river.
Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson has come out on the attack against the Greens co-leader Russel Norman for the “most bizarre notion” that climate variation was new “that it is unique, unparalleled and frightening”. Russel casts this attack aside and gets his teeth into policy and the tough task of making sense of Carbon.
Streaming full episodes of Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show has been disabled in certain countries outside of the United States at the request of local content licensees including New Zealand. But who has made the request, C4 or Sky TV? Russell challenges the Green’s assertion the Mt Albert Labour candidate David Shearer is right wing and this week on Media 7 Russell is asking if the Banks are the bad guys. Russell Brown is chief blogger at publicaddress.net.
The opposition leader is having a tough time getting noticed and recognised as the new leader of the Labour Party and as a viable option for Prime Minister.
In a TV3 poll Phil Goff rated below Helen Clark as preferred PM. So what is he going to do to lift his ratings? The Labour campaign for the Mt Albert seat has begun in earnest but there is currently no candidate. And did the Labour Government do enough to protect New Zealand against the Swine?
The Green Party Co-leader says the Government should not expect a dividend from TVNZ at a time when they are making 90 employees redundant.
Russel is also concerned that Bill English is looking into reviewing and relaxing the criteria for overseas investment into New Zealand, will it mean more competition for housing stock and land ownership? And the Warehouse has announced it is introducing a 10 cent charge for its plastic bags.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully has stated that New Zealand’s aid should change from ‘poverty elimination’ to a broader focus on economic development.
McCully also wants New Zealand’s aid agency NZAID to lose its status as a semi-autonomous body. A website has been set up that question the Government’s motives. Green Party Overseas Development Assistance Spokesperson Dr Kennedy Graham says Murray McCully needs to tell the public just what will qualify as New Zealand Aid (NZAID) under his leadership.
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman explains where the Greens fit in with what John Key is calling a coalition monster and says that the so called monster could also happen in a right-wing agreement. Russel says people should vote how they feel and not necessarily strategically and he also highlights the dangers of going back to a First Past the Post system.
Russell gives up his thoughts on the TV One YouTube Debate and the form of Helen Clark and John Key in the first few few days of the election campaign. The Maori party also get a look in with their attention seeking welfare policy release.
