Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

In this podcast we hear from Courteney - 19 year-old mum of 8-month-old Summer, and first year law student at Victoria University - about her experience on the DPB, balancing work, study, and parenting, and her thoughts about the Welfare Working Group’s proposals for sole parents. We also hear from Green Party Work and Income Spokesperson Catherine Delahunty.

Petrol prices are nearing record highs, and Kiwi households and business are starting to feel the pinch. Because our economy and transport sector is so reliant on oil, there are massive negative impacts every time the price spikes – in fact one analysis suggests that we go into a recession every time petrol goes over $1.80 a litre. We can expect ongoing price spikes in the future, as the world’s reserves of cheap oil are dwindling and political instability in oil producing nations threatens supply on the world market. I spoke to Green MPs Gareth Hughes and Kevin Hague about the significance of high oil prices to New Zealand.

Christchurch

Orientation is underway on campuses around the country, with many students helping out with quake recovery efforts. Before the quake struck last week, we asked Green MPs David Clendon, Kevin Hague, and Gareth Hughes about their own experiences of orientation and tertiary education.

Green MPs and long standing women’s affairs activists Sue Kedgley and Catherine Delahunty about their experiences in the women’s lib movement and as female politicians. They give their insights to the latest events, and answer the age old question, Who is Pat Triarchy?

Former diplomat and Green MP Kennedy Graham describes the mid-1980s as some of the best years of his life. New Zealand, under David Lange’s leadership, had just become nuclear free, making, in Kennedy’s words, the most fearless, independent, and moral foreign policy choice since nationhood. I asked Kennedy to describe that time of his life and give us an insider’s view of what happens diplomatically when a small country on the edge of the world declares it’s independence from the world’s largest superpowers.

In this podcast, we present edited highlights from Russel Norman's 2011 State of the Planet Address. What are the key principles of a smart green economy? Why do we need one? And how can we get there?

The silly season is one of celebration, relaxation if we’re lucky, and also of tradition. As the end of December and January arrive, usually with some sunny weather, we often revisit, physically or just mentally, the haunts of our childhood: the places and the people who mean the most to us. In this podcast four Green Party MPs talk about their traditions and memories of the holidays.

As part of our occasional series on Green spirituality, I invited Anglican Social Justice Commissioner, the Reverend Anthony Dancer, in to talk with Metiria Turei about the things that drive her to work for a more humane world.

Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman gives us some summer reading inspiration by sharing what he's been reading lately.

This weekend is the annual Taupo Cycle Challenge, a 160km bike ride around Lake Taupo that attracts up to 10,000 people of all ages. The Green Party is sending a team for the second year in a row. Who has been training? How did they do last year? Who is faster, Kevin Hague or Russel Norman? And why was Kennedy Graham dropped from the team? The Green Team for the Taupo Cycle Challenge tells all.

Green Party Co-leader, Russel Norman, discusses what's sacred to him in this, the second of an occasional series where I talk to a Green MPs about their spirituality.

What do our MPs listen to? What’s on their ipods? Do they even have ipods? And if not, where does the music in their lives come from? Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei and Green MPs Catherine Delahunty, Gareth Hughes and David Clendon talk about their musical tastes and predilections.

In this week’s podcast, Green Party spokesperson on information technology and communication, Gareth Hughes talks about internet suspension in the Copywrite Amendment Bill.

Possums, stoats, and rats beware!