Green Party AGM - day one

Here it is finally, my report from the AGM. I'll do it in parts as it is a bit of a lengthy report, starting with Friday. We had an awesome flight down, checking out the awesome scenery of the South Island. Thanks to the wonderful people at Origin Pacific I got to sit next to one of our great young candidates and we both admired the beauty of the mountains and the rivers. Seeing this wonderful country from above gives one a great perspective to admire it. And that perspective can always serve as a fantastic reminder as to what a taonga this place is. Makes me more glad I'm a Green; putting the planet first. Firstly a bit about the place. We had the AGM at CPIT at Te Matauranga Maori. This is an amazing space and we are very privileged to be welcomed here. Our powhiri was quite magic and we had some very special acknowledgements. The venue was particularly amazing and it was great to sleep on a heated floor! There were a number of things on Friday afternoon, mostly for candidates and some of the decision-making groups within the party We then moved onto a wonderful meal and people took the opportunity to catch up with friends who they haven't seen in a while. That's one of the wonderful things about the Greens, we're all really good friends! Friday night brought to us the privilege of gathering in the wharenui with members of the public to hear Australian Green Senator, Kerry Nettle speak. We were supposed to have Bob Brown speak but he had to stay in Australia to appear in court. So instead we got Bob via DVD to explain that he is in federal court in Melbourne to challenge the logging of rainforest in Tasmania. He did give us a rather inspiring speech about the important role of Greens worldwide. I guess that's a fair enough excuse, good luck Bob, kia kaha! We also saw a short film about the destruction of the rainforests in Tasmania and it was pretty humbling. Hope to hear some good results from his case. Then we got to hear from Kerry herself. Kerry is very active in campaigning for the rights of refugees and she gave some good warnings about how far things can go when you have harsh immigration policies... We also got a good overview of the work of the Australian Greens. Great to have you here Kerry, hope you enjoyed your weekend!