More on energy politics

Wow there's some bizarre news for you. Federated Farmers extolling the virtues of Green Party policy. Wonders will never cease! While they do have different reasoning behind supporting what Jeanette had to say, it's nice to see that they can agree with us on agreed policy points. In global news a BBC survey puts the Greens on top when it comes to implementing practical measures to combat climate change. Nice one! This survey was not just looking at party policy but also how MPs behave in their own lives. Oh, and the Canadian Greens are calling for a reduction in oil dependence. The Italian Greens are slamming Berlusconi for opening up the nuclear debate.

Nuclear power was banned in Italy following a referendum in 1987, a year after the explosion and fire at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine. Italy’s four nuclear plants were shut down and dismantled.

And in Russia, the Greens have joined with the indigenous people of the north to protest the construction of oil recovery facilities in the north of Sakhalin Island. They have put out a call for support and you can do so here by signing the letter to the Sakhalin Island Governor and the heads of the oil companies involved. Meanwhile, back here, Contact Energy will have some excitement at their annual meeting next month when their donations to political parties get challenged. New Zealand politics has an interesting connection with business when it comes to political donations. We don't have the large scale funding for policy exchange issues that other countries have. But we do still have a lot of corporate donations happening. Most of them offer equal amounts to the large parties and to the smaller parties. But some still give more, or only give to the pro-business (by their definition of course) parties. As far as I'm aware the Greens are the only party to have a blanket refusal policy on corporate donations. Although, I think the Alliance and NZ First were quite choosy in the last election as to who they accepted money from (please correct or clarify if I'm wrong on this one). I for one, would like to see the end of corporate sponsorship of elections. As one of my biggest heroes Granny D says

Our nation’s leaders have been corrupted by special interests dollars and no longer represent the interests of their constituents.