Archive for August, 2008

make way for the bus…

August 30th, 2008

An excellent proposal in the Dom Post today to help improve the reliability of Wellington’s bus services.   The Council is considering re-opening Manners St where Manners Mall is to allow for a bus only traffic. 

I support this idea.  From my own experience, and talking to drivers the bottlenecks caused around the Dixon St, Victoria St, Manners St area are one of the major issues when it comes to reliability of the service.  The proposal would make Manners St two way all the way from Willis St to Taranaki St. As Poneke notes this can also be the route for a future light rail or pod system that would really step up our public transport system.

It will take some adjustment for the retailers currently in the Mall, but I am sure with the foot traffic associated with the buses they will continue to do a good trade.

I still believe that we could look again at the possibility of Lambton Quay being a bus and service vehicle only area as well.  As I was collecting for Daffidol Day yesterday by Midland Park, I witnessed a stand-off between bus and car, not for the first time that delayed traffic for some time.

 I think the time has come to take some big steps in terms of making public transport the preferred option for getting around the city.  I always raise the importance of the issue in my cottage meetings, and the response is almost universally positive.  People are really thinking about the issue, and are full of interesting suggestions, that I will come back to in a future post.

Posted in Wellington.  |   0 Comments

Parents Quiz the PM

August 29th, 2008

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Yesterday I went along with the Prime Minister to the ‘Still Got a Brain’ parents group, as reported in the Dominion Post this morning (though not on-line it appears).  This is a group started by mothers and ex Beehive staffers Belinda Ware and Rachel Dahlberg to give at home parents a chance to meet and discuss issues and hear speakers.

It is, as you can imagine with dozens of under 5s, a delightfully choatic scene at the Southern Cross Hotel.  Mums and Dads, kids, toys, and lunchboxes, compete for space with coffees, and on this occassion the PM and me.  The innate ability of parents to multi-task was never more evident as they dealt with broken toys and thirsty toddlers, while clearly taking in all that the PM had to say.

The PM outlined her plans for a future with Labour, and then went through policies for families using a ‘life-cycle’ approach. I thought it was a very effective approach discussing everything from 20 hours free childcare, to B4 School checks to Schools Plus and Working for Families and on to Kiwisaver.  She also dwelt on the importance of strong environmental policies, not only for the health of our country and the planet, but also for the good of our economy.

The questions showed the group’s name is most definitely spot on, as parents raised a number of issues including childcare, cost of education and environmental issues. The latter were certainly a hot topic when I was talking to the parents afterwards.  There was a lot of focus on the Emissions Trading Scheme, which is good, but of course that is only one aspect of improving our environmental performance, and becoming a truly sustainable nation.

All in all a very enjoyable morning.  I know a number of the parents in the group from university and working life, and they are all doing a terrific job with their kids.  As the meeting wound up, the press gallery had arrived to dissect the latest twists in the Peters donations saga.   Most of the parents headed off to carry on the very full time job of looking after our next generations.  In some ways its a pity the press gallery folk  did not stop in to listen to the kinds of questions that were being asked, they might have found it very instructive.

Posted in Wellington.  |   0 Comments

meanwhile in the real world…..

August 28th, 2008

Amidst the political melodrama, the Social Report has been released, and overall it tells a story of reducing inequalities and an improved quality of life in New Zealand.  There is of course more to do, but we can see demonstrable improvements in the lives of New Zealanders under a Labour-led government.

There is some analysis over at The Standard, with the promise of more to come. I hope to have time to go through it in detail soon too.  One thing to note in the meantime is that the continuing release of the Social Report is a great credit to MSD and the government.  It is a comprehensive and cutting edge piece of work, that is invaluable in tracking our progress as a country.

Posted in Social Justice.  |   0 Comments

Wellington Council Housing Upgrade

August 26th, 2008

I am just back from the signing of the Deed of Grant between the Wellington City Council and the Labour-led government for the $220 million partnership to upgrade Council housing.

The upgrade will mean that more than 4000 Wellingtonians will have their quality of life improved through improvements to things like insulation, ventilation, kitchens and bathrooms.   In terms of Wellington Central the first apartment blocks that will have work done are the Central Park and Berkley Dallard Apartments. 

 This is tangible proof of Labour’s commitment to social housing.  The National Party’s sale of state houses in the 90s has been a costly and time consuming thing to do undo.  Labour has increased the number of state houses by more than 8000, and has supported Councils and community groups to ensure there is a supply of housing for those in need.   For me this is a cornerstone of a socially conscious government.

The tenants I spoke to at the launch are very happy indeed.  They, of course, have some concerns about how they will be housed while refurbishments are underway, but the Council has spent considerable time working on the logistics of that.  There are 28 consultation meetings in the next two weeks so residents can be fully informed.

Have a read of my media release for further information.

Posted in Social Justice and Wellington.  |   1 Comment

Leadership you can trust

August 24th, 2008

I spent a very interesting morning on Friday at a Victoria University organised discussion around the future of New Zealand.  It was all Chatham House rules so there is not much I can say, but one issue I came away from mulling in my head is the role and importance of leadership in a democracy like ours. I am sure that it will in fact be one of the defining issues of this election, and many to come.

We know what the world thinks of Helen Clark as a leader. She is respected for her intelligence, her grasp of world events, her independent and principled stances and her straight forwardness. I am sure that is what the Australian diplomat was trying to say in the now infamous briefing note!

Buried in the NZ Herald yesterday, was an article commenting on the role that Helen had played in leading the Pacific Forum to a common position on what to do about Fiji. Actually it might come as some surprise to the said Australian official and indeed some New Zealand media that other Pacific leaders are praising the PMs ability to work a compromise.  In particular as Samoan PM Tuilaepa says

the critical role she has played in the forum has been as an agent of compromise between what developed countries might demand and the Pacific way

This is indeed a rare skill, especially when combined with the ability to still make your case. Tuilaepa again

She takes a strong stand on issues that are raised at our meetings. But in an organisation of 16 member countries, you cannot expect unanimity of views on many issues. But whenver there is a divergence, she plays the right role of coming with the right word to reflect the areas where compromise can be reached.

Of course the ability to do this has been evident in holding together three quite different MMP coalitions within New Zealand. Helen’s  earlier parliamentary life was full of lessons for what happens when leadership becomes divorced from the communities it is trying to lead, and in our democracy there can be brutal payback for so doing.  Good leadership must respect the public and the choices they make, while continuing to take the lead to ensure our development and progress as a nation.

Helen has built her leadership on being clear and decisive, knowing it is better to under promise and over deliver, but all the same giving the electorate the confidence that if a commitment is made it will be met. Of course not everything works out exactly as planned, but it is the kind of strong, effcetive leadership that is vital to our future.

I have written before on my views on John Key’s leadership. The recent TVNZ poll showing the public lack of trust in National is a challenge to that leadership. As the electorate begins to focus on the election ahead the question of who’s leadership you can trust will be a very important one indeed.

Posted in New Zealand in the World.  |   1 Comment
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