“This government is very clear, we won't let cowboys operate here in New Zealand”. That’s what our Prime Minister John Key said as he welcomed a wagon trail of ten gallon hat-wearing oil executives in Auckland this week.

The thing is, Key is bending over backwards to welcome cowboy oil operators to our waters. And you don’t get more cowboy than one particular Texan company.

The company is Anadarko and they were heavily involved in  the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the worst environmental disaster in American history.

An investigation published yesterday exposes just how involved they were. They were up to their oily elbows in the disaster.

The dirty dossier against them is compelling. The Government's crackdown on our proud tradition of protest at sea lo...

The passing of the Marriage Equality Bill last week was a triumph of bi-partisan politics.

Our elected leaders were able to think for themselves, ignore party doctrine and speak honestly about the concerns of their constituents.

It was celebrated in news headlines across the globe, and it made me proud to call New Zealand home.

But on the same day, the National led-Government, bound by doctrine and blinded by ideology, voted to make protesting at sea illegal. It is the latest move by Steven Joyce and John Key to re-write our laws and roll back our environmental safeguards to suit overseas oil companies.

Companies like Texan oil giant Anadarko have been spooked by how much we care about our beaches and the sea that we fish and swim in. So they’ve been meeting behind closed doors with Min... Read more >

Today is love DOC day. It is a day where we give thanks to the guys and girls who are out there, knee deep in mud and tip-toeing through the trees, looking after our treasured land.

Day after day, come rain, shine or high winds DOC staff are out there, safeguarding our heritage, our wildlife and our identity to ensure that New Zealand remains clean and green. They are the bastions of conservation, the protectors of our most fragile species like the Kiwi and the Kakapo and the guardians of our tramping trails. We owe them a lot.

Yet, like many of our iconic birds, they are under threat.

As the National led Government looks to roll back our environmental laws to suit big business, now more than ever we need a strong, well -resourced conservation department. But Nick Smith and Steven Joyc... Read more >

When nobody was watching over Easter, our Government did something very shady. No, they didn’t nick your Easter eggs. What they did was much, much worse.

Simon Bridges, Minister of Energy and Resources, tried to nick your right to protest in an embarrassing and clumsy attempt to suck up to to foreign oil companies. The new minister, who appears to be fumbling with his new job, and with the concept of democracy, has proposed a law change designed to crack down on peaceful protest at sea.

According to SImon Bridges, if you stand up and defend our oceans and beaches from an oil spill, you should face jail or a heavy fine.  

This new law won’t even be checked for breaches of the Bill of Rights -- it's the type of law-making that is more suited to Soviet-era Russia, not New Zealand.

Bri...

New Zealanders value their environment. We are blessed with the great outdoors, beautiful beaches and a rich diversity of nature in our very own back yard. It is what gives us that unique quality of life that is makes us the envy of the world. 

And we have these natural spoils because Kiwis before us have worked tirelessly to put in place sensible laws that ensure we protect our heritage, our land and our values. And we should be proud of these achievements.

Yet, the very laws that were once held aloft as being the gold standard for putting the environment at the heart of development are now under threat.

To many, the Resource Management Act (RMA) – the very fabric of our clean, green nation - means different things to different people. For some it’s about building a deck or an extensi... Read more >