Kevin Hague bids farewell to Parliament.
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8:00 am, September 21st, 2016 - 24 comments
Categories: greens, Parliament -
Tags: kevin hague, valedictory
Green MP Kevin Hague has delivered his valedictory speech.
He made a special point of mentioning his regrets on Pike River:
“I have felt a heavy responsibility for that work. I have been pleased to contribute to a major overhaul of workplace health and safety regulation in this country.
But I’ve been frustrated and angry that nobody from the board or the senior management of the Pike River coal company has been held to account or will ever be held to account for what has occurred.
And that 29 men still have not been brought home to their families.”
The Herald reports:
Hague said he hoped three projects he was leaving behind would be seen through to a successful end, including better health services for transgender New Zealanders, a petition for an apology and wiping the convictions of gay men convicted of consensual sexual activity before homosexual law reform, and his campaign for the Education Review Office to audit whether schools were safe for lesbian, homosexual and transgender students.
Kevin Hague is leaving Parliament to head up Forest & Bird. Thanks for all your hard work, Kevin.
24 comments on “Kevin Hague bids farewell to Parliament. ”
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The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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- Release: Winston Peters must apologise
The Deputy Prime Minister should apologise to the public servant he named and blamed for something they did not do, and for misusing the rules of Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
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Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...2 days ago
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Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...2 days ago
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Kia ora koutou katoa. Nau mai, haere mai, piki mai. Ki te mihi atu ahau, ki te manwhenua nei, Te Atiawa, Ngāti toa rangatira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you, Andy, for your introduction. Let me acknowledge you as the new Chief Executive of the Social Investment ...7 days ago
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- Knowing superstitions aren’t real doesn’t stop us behaving superstitiously – why?
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A smart guy, he read the tea leaves and acted accordingly…which means its sad he’s left parliament
In an interview, he said this is pretty much the only reason he could think for leaving Parliament. He thinks he had a good chance at being a minister after the next election, but thought heading up Forest and Bird was something he’d never get a chance at, so is leaping at the offer.
I suspect he knows he wasn’t going to be a minister as National was winning a fourth term so instead of waiting another term he took up the offer from Forest and Bird and of course theres nothing stopping him coming back in a couple of years time…
Well given your “suspicions” over Hague’s own statements I think I know who I’m going to believe.
Fair enough, I actually think its a smart move from Hague, why hang around for a few more years when he could go out and do something useful
Bit of a lesson there for other politicians…
Presumably plans are underway to cancel next years election based on your own tea leave/ cum stain interpretation
Well it’d be the right thing to do to save the country some money but you know some on the left would complain about it…
the Left respects the values of democracy as long as the red necks, the ignorant, the uneducated and the deplorables don’t get too uppity beyond their station in life.
Seems unnecessary carping, cv.
In the United States, the republic was set up by an elite who wanted to ensure that popular democracy could never be effectively realised.
The goal was to ensure that the responsible, reliable, and respectable members of society (as judged by them) always had the biggest say in the affairs of the nation.
What I am saying here is that (IMO) both the status quo Left and the status quo Right believe in this inherently elitest principle, albeit of course from slightly different political perspectives.
We need to be proferring solutions.
Let’s learn from Corbyn.
What would you like to learn from Corbyn? Last I Iooked UK Labour were at 30%
More niggle….can’t be bothered cv.
He will be sorely missed in Parliament, you always knew you were going to get a wise and persausive argument when he got up to speak, but as usual with the Greens he was only there to give back to the community, and now has other important work to go on to. I hope he does well at Forest & Bird.
Good luck Kevin! A real loss to the Green Party and parliament, and a great guy.
Off to promote 1080
Your point?
Shall watch this. Looks interesting.
What has this to do with Kevin Hague?
I’m guessing that Forest and Bird support the use of 1080
Published on 3 Dec 2013
This New Zealand film has won 4 international environmental awards – but here in NZ, TV channels refuse to play it. Why? Because if they did, there would be outrage and riots over New Zealand’s use of aerially applied 1080 poison. See for yourself
And yeh CV
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz › … › Protecting native forests with 1080
Support Us … We have lost 43 species of birds in the last 800 years since human … But well-managed aerial 1080 operations can reduce possum and rat …
The two Kevins, Hague and Hackwell could be a formidable duo in there.
I’m sorry to see Hague leave parliament. He did a lot to make ACC behave less viciously towards claimants, as it has done, more or less continuously since the fourth Labour government appointed a crook to run it. Since then it’s all been about ruthless cost-shifting by ACC, condoned by successive governments. Kevin Hague was one of the few politicians who saw it for what it was and wasn’t afraid to call t out. I see no one with similar moral fortitude in the House.
I found Kevin to be thoughtful, intelligent and principled. He didn’t go for the rant or the grandstand. Thanks and all the best Kevin.