The Greens Are Deep In Dirty Politics

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I have a confession, as a Green candidate I too have been involved in some dirty politics and it has been filthier than many would expect.

I had someone contact me recently because of his concern about poor service from an SOE but in the resulting conversation he revealed that he worked as a drain and tile layer on farms. As far as he was concerned riparian planting was a cosmetic joke because the drainage systems he was putting in place  just funneled effluent directly into our streams and rivers.

I recently spent a day getting down and dirty with a bunch of 'Bluffies' cleaning up the roadside between Invercargill and our southernmost port. We filled heaps of sacks with rubbish chucked from cars and trucks. It was a pleasure to help Joyce Kolk who has led many teams to clean up our beaches and public places.

Today I spent an afternoon delivering Green Party leaflets and chatting to people as I caught them gardening or cleaning cars in the Spring sunshine. I happened to come across one man who was really pleased to meet me, he was a keen fisherman and whitebaiter and also passionate about our marine and freshwater environments. He was particularly concerned about Oreti Beach, a southern treasure and where Burt Munro raced his famous Indian motorcycle. He was appalled that the beach and sand dunes were being used as a playground for boy racers, motorcycles and four wheel drive vehicles. The area is also being trashed by copious amounts of litter.


The Green Party isn't afraid of making a stand to protect our rivers and beaches from rubbish and effluent that is far worse than anything seen in a Judith Collins email. The politics behind intensive farming and environmental degradation is deeply engrained and very dirty. To clean up our environment we also have to clean up the way we govern it.


Comments

sobuj said…
all education results to bellow
September 28, 2014 at 4:46 AM
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