Over the weekend, the National party had their annual get together in Wellington. We popped along too, with our polar bear, to find out whether action on climate change was part of their agenda. From what we can gather from the muted and confused responses (video coming soon) of those attending, including Ministers, the most important economic and environmental issue that faces our country was absent from the Government’s mind.

And the only major announcement to come from this meeting might hint at why.

The Government has announced that as part of what even the Road Transport Forum is calling an “election year lolly scramble”, it is going to use the money raised from the controversial sale of New Zealanders’ energy assets to upgrade regional roads. John Key announced that should National ... Read more >

If you go down to the concrete jungle today, you’re sure to get a surprise. If you’re in town to cut some deals, you’ll never believe your eyes.

For there’s a bear who shouldn’t be there. Because she’s losing her home in the Arctic.

Yesterday the government delivered a Budget with a deficit in ambition. It completely failed to back our clean energy innovators. Today, at Skycity in Auckland, the Prime Minister met with a bunch of business executives. And no doubt there was some back-slapping and high fives all round.

Pastries, cheese scrolls and sausages on sticks were scoffed as John Key wandered around shaking hands. Maybe the National party coffers might even see a little boost too from the assembled suits.

A climate refugee in #Auckland has come to John Key's post budget briefing - climate change can't be ignored #nzpol pic.twitter.com/WtUq8E0a2I Read more >

— Greenpeace NZ (@GreenpeaceNZ) May 15, 2014

But the polar bear was also trying to get into the room to remi...

Yesterday, the Green Party launched a pre-budget policy … “as a first step in accelerating New Zealand's transition to a smarter greener economy” …but from what we’ve seen so far, there a few glaring issues with how they propose to get the green economy into the black.

They’ve said they would set up a “Green Investment Bank”, if they get into government. The bank would use public funds to leverage private investment, in order to rewire our economy and harness New Zealand’s clean energy expertise. Co-leader Russel Norman argues it could reduce pollution, create jobs and deliver solutions to environmental problems like climate change.

And as was pointed out, New Zealand would not be the first to create such a bank. Many of our trading partners in UK, Germany and the US have successfully set...

Now that the Internet Party are up and running, and if the latest polls are anything to go by, gaining some tailwind, they’ve today announced their environmental policy.

And as part of our election year review of party policies and attitudes towards the environment, it seemed only reasonable to offer our considered thoughts on Dotcom’s latest contribution to the political mix.

Dotcom's Internet Party unveils environmental policy: Kim Dotcom's fledgling Internet Party has begun fleshing... http://t.co/0Rtxc2ZsVw

— nzherald National (@nzheraldnznews) May 9, 2014

Let’s write a new set of rules for the environment. Help us write the best policy ever: http://t.co/Y7n8iWkVHe #Environment #Sustainable Read more >

— Internet Party (@InternetPartyNZ) May 8, 2014

Firstly, it’s good to see that that the party has recognised the enormous opportunities that doing things in a cleaner smarter way could bring to New Zealand.

And perhaps it’s no surprise that there is an emphasis on green data centres. The advances being made globally in this sector are happening at an ultra-fast pace as companies like Facebook and Google look to power their global reach w...

So Shane Jones is off. Retired from politics he says. Couldn’t give 100 percent to the cause so he did what he thought was best for the Party.

Shane Jones has always been a polarising figure and never more so when it comes to his dislike for us: “the Green Priests”. We’ve clashed on many issues, most notably his pro-oil and gas stance and his support for destructive fishing in the Pacific. We spoofed a Sealord video, highlighting the impact the company was having on our oceans. Much like an oil spill, his rage washed up on the telly as he leapt to the defence of his former paymasters who had given him 10 grand in 2011.

And now Parliament's resident firebrand is chasing the money once again and seemingly selling out to National.

So often Jones has tried to publicly re-write Labour party...