Auckland Green Party MP Keith Locke has warned against any 'pause' in Auckland's rail electrification project.
It was today revealed that Transport Minister Steven Joyce sent a letter to the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) asking it to take 'a short pause' in going ahead with its rail electrification commitments. Mr Joyce wanted the ‘pause’ so that the ARC could digest the ramifications of the, as yet unreleased, report on the Royal Commission on Auckland’s Governance.
Far from ‘streamlining and simplifying’, the Government’s Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms will mean more bureaucracy and skyrocketing costs for local councils and ratepayers.
“The Government wants to eliminate protection for trees by making it too expensive to protect them,” Green Party Auckland MP Keith Locke said today.
The proposed law change means that every council will have to individually list each tree it wants to protect in its council plan, rather than protecting them in groups.
Green Party MP Keith Locke says Prime Minister John Key needs to ask some more questions of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) - given that he is the responsible Minister.
Green Party MP Keith Locke wants an assurance that the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) will finally close the file on his life – after over five decades of unwarranted snooping – and pledge that it will cease monitoring the political activities of MPs.
New Zealand should urge the Sri Lankan Government to allow aid agencies access to help civilians trapped by fighting in the country’s civil war, says the Green Party.
In the wake of the Israel/Hamas ceasefire, Green MP Keith Locke wants New Zealand to follow the lead of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and speak out more strongly on the Gaza issue.
Green MP Keith Locke is calling on the Government to give emergency aid to the people of Gaza.
"We need to be part of the world response to the humanitarian catastrophe," said Mr Locke, Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson.
"A big boost to our aid would show the people of Gaza that we care about their plight.
Green MP Keith Locke has criticised the New Zealand Government for its silence on the bombardment of Gaza.
"While other governments work around the clock on the issue, ours has gone missing," said Mr Locke, Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson.