Kevin Hague bids farewell to Parliament.

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, September 21st, 2016 - 24 comments
Categories: greens, Parliament - Tags: ,

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. ”

  1. Puckish Rogue 1

    A smart guy, he read the tea leaves and acted accordingly…which means its sad he’s left parliament

    • Lanthanide 1.1

      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.

      • Puckish Rogue 1.1.1

        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.

          • Puckish Rogue 1.1.1.1.1

            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…

            • fender 1.1.1.1.1.1

              Presumably plans are underway to cancel next years election based on your own tea leave/ cum stain interpretation

              • Puckish Rogue

                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…

                • Colonial Viper

                  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.

                  • Paul

                    Seems unnecessary carping, cv.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      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.

                    • Paul

                      We need to be proferring solutions.
                      Let’s learn from Corbyn.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      What would you like to learn from Corbyn? Last I Iooked UK Labour were at 30%

                    • Paul

                      More niggle….can’t be bothered cv.

  2. 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.

  3. UncookedSelachimorpha 3

    Good luck Kevin! A real loss to the Green Party and parliament, and a great guy.

  4. mauī 5

    The two Kevins, Hague and Hackwell could be a formidable duo in there.

  5. Michael who failed Civics 6

    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.

  6. Philj 7

    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.

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