Local Bodies

Under President Donald Trump (and his growing swamp of a government ) the United States of America has now become a fully identifiable " rogue nation " that ignores basic human rights and international agreements. While the US constitution provides protections for civil and political rights, these are often ignored when corporate and political interests are challenged. The defence of an individual's rights are often dependent on a person's cultural and racial identity or being able to afford access to legal process (and an effective legal team). The United States has been internationally criticised for its poor human rights record for some time and is worsening under Trump: Least protections for workers in the developed world and is ranked alongside Iraq, Iran and Sierra Leone and Honduras. It systemically violates basic workers rights and slave or forced labour is commonplace . The top 1% have now captured 40% of the country's wealth.  Criminalisati

Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage was s ubjected to some angry comments from party members on social media after her decision to allow (in principle) a large Chinese water bottling company to purchase land to extend their plant. The decision by the Green Minister went against what the party had campaigned on and seemed incomprehensible for many. Media quickly published some of the angry responses and ex Green MP Sue Bradford predicts trouble ahead for the Party as Green Ministers find themselves between "a rock and a hard place" as decisions they are forced to make clash with Party policy. This isn't the first time that Green Party members have reacted passionately to decisions made by their caucus. Giving up their questions to the opposition and supporting the waka-jumping bill for the first reading resulted in some internal anguish and articles in the Green Party magazine (Te Awa) from past MPs and members voicing opposing views. I can understand why p