新西兰英语 754 Death of MP, Parekura Horomia

We heard the sad news that Parekura Horomia died at his home in Tolaga Bay, this afternoon. He was 62. He had problems with his weight and tried for many years to improve his health but recently he had not been very well. He had been a Labour Party M

新西兰英语 806 Maori By-Election results

First listen to April 29th 2013 to hear about the death of Parekura Horomia and the need for a by-election. As a result of the death of the Labour MP Parekura Horomia, a by-election was held on Saturday to elect a new Member of Parliament for the eas

新西兰英语 111 Green Party Co-Leader will retire

The Green Party co-leader, Jeanette Fitzsimons, announced that she will step down from her position as co-leader in June, and leave politics altogether at the next elections. She has been co-leader of the Greens for 14 years. The Green Party must hav

新西兰英语 397 Waitangi Day

Today is Waitangi Day, a day when we remember the Treaty that was signed on Feb 6th 1840, between the Queen of England and the Maori chiefs of New Zealand. In the Treaty, Queen Victoria agreed to protect the Maori and give them the same rights as Bri

新西兰英语 70 MMP

MMP may be responsible for a delay in deciding whether National or Labour gets to form the new government. With 120 seats in parliament, the winning party needs 61 to have a majority. After the last elections, Labour had 50 seats while National had 4

新西兰英语 75 Maori Party Holds Hui

After talks with John Key, the co-leaders of the Maori Party, Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples, have agreed to hold many hui (meetings) throughout New Zealand. It is likely that John Key has offered the Maori Party a chance for one or two of their mem

新西兰英语 77 John Key’s New Cabinet

John Key announced five new Cabinet Ministers yesterday from the minor parties. Today, he announced another 23 from the National Party. This makes 28 Ministers. Bill English will be Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of Infrastru

新西兰英语 217 Emissions Trading Scheme becomes law

Tonight Parliament voted on New Zealands Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The National Party, with the support of the Maori Party, had 63 votes while the Opposition Labour, the Greens and ACT had only 58 votes. Earlier this week, the government gave f

新西兰英语 200 Rugby World Cup on TV

When New Zealand hosts the Rugby World Cup in 2011, which TV channel will show the games? We know that TVNZ does not have enough money to show the Commonwealth Games next year so does it have enough money for the Rugby World Cup? Both TVNZ and TV3 ma

新西兰英语 422 The beach and the sea

The Marine and Coastal Area Bill passed its third reading in Parliament today. Next the Governor-General has to sign it. Then it becomes the Marine and Coastal Act and is the law. The voting in Parliament was 63 to 56. The Maori Party joined the Nati

新西兰英语 294 Maori and the Sea

We have heard a lot of talk in the last six years about the foreshore and seabed. The foreshore is the beach up to the high tide mark. The seabed is the ocean as far as New Zealands limit, 200 miles out to sea. This is the part of the ocean which New

新西兰英语 400 Who owns the beach and sea?

The Maori Party believes that the beach and sea were not mentioned in the Treaty of Waitangi so they belong to Maori just as they did before Europeans came to this country. In 2004, the Foreshore and Seabed Act said that all beaches up to the high ti

新西兰英语 517 Voting in the election

Only 73% of registered voters chose to vote on Saturday. This is the lowest percentage since 1887. 3,053,705 people are registered to vote but only 2.2m people voted. Although it is too early to know all the details, it seems that young people are no

新西兰英语 521 Minor Political Parties

Dont forget to vote next Saturday if you are eligible to vote. Did you receive your voting package last week? The envelope contains a list of all parties and candidates as well as your voting card which you take to the polling booth. Are the minor po

新西兰英语 145 Parliament “in urgency”

Parliament is in urgency when the government wants to pass a law in a hurry. In this case, the government is in a hurry to set up the new Auckland super-city council before the local body elections in November next year. The government wants to set u

新西兰英语 150 Maori protest against Auckland super-city

At midday today, about 6,000 Maori and other supporters held a protest march in Queen St in Auckland, in the rain. The march was called a hikoi. The hikoi was organised by a young Maori man, Ngarimu Blair, who controlled the crowd to make sure that i

新西兰英语 192 Climate Change Bill

Today, the Minister for Climate Change, Nick Smith, introduced an ETS Emissions Trading Scheme bill into Parliament. This will change the ETS that the Labour government passed. Dr Smith said that it was important not to be too tough on industry becau

新西兰英语 213 Hone Harawira in trouble

Hone Harawira will stay away from Parliament for the next two weeks and think about his future. The Maori Party met on Thursday and the leader, Whatarangi Winiata, suggested that Hone leave the Party. He should resign from Parliament or resign from t

新西兰英语 455 Hone Harawira wins by-election

The result of the by-election in Te Tai Tokerau electorate yesterday was a win for Hone Harawira. Kelvin Davis, Labour, was second with 867 fewer votes than Hone. The Maori Party candidate was third. Hone says this is a win for the new Mana Party but

新西兰英语 433 Hone Harawira resigns from Parliament

The last few weeks have been difficult for the Maori Party. Hone Harawira has been the Maori Party MP for Te Tai Tokerau in the Far North of the North Island since the elections in 2005. However, he has not always agreed with the Maori Party and fina