Greens co-leader looks for eco-friendly investments

By SIMON COLLINS

Green Party co-leader Rod Donald is moonlighting as a scout for the Green MPs' super fund as he campaigns around the country.

The Green super fund, which started with buying a house in Wellington where some of its MPs stay, is looking to invest in businesses which meet the Green criteria of environmental soundness.

Campaigning in Howick yesterday, Mr Donald bought a bottle of organic beer brewed by Nelson's Founders Brewery. The Green super fund has invested in a company that supplies the brewery, and is keen to invest in the brewery itself if Founders will let it.

On the campaign trail Mr Donald has also checked out organic vineyards in Gisborne and Marlborough, a Rudolf Steiner-based homoeopathic business in Hawkes Bay and Te Puke health food company Comvita.

But he found it harder going on the streets outside the Howick Health Food Centre, where the voters had other concerns.

A 29-year-old insurance broker, Rory Graham, stopped Mr Donald to ask what the Greens' position was on crime.

"The main stance on crime is full employment and good family life," the Green co-leader replied. "We want to put as much effort as we can into preventing crime."

Those who committed crimes fell into two categories, he said. First, those who showed some remorse should be given the chance "to apologise and make restitution for the crime".

"What we don't want to do is send young people to prison, because that is the university of crime."



Mr Donald did not get around to saying what should be done with those who showed no remorse. And Mr Graham said he did not think the Greens' answers would deter criminals.



Josie Cleave, an American-born receptionist who has been here 10 years, told Mr Donald that politics was "hogwash".

"The people here in New Zealand need lots of help. It's really sad," she said.

In Hawaii, where she also lived for a decade, state taxes were only 4 per cent and federal taxes less than 8 per cent of people's incomes.

"Is there any poverty in Hawaii?" Mr Donald asked, incredulously.

"No," she replied.

After refusing to have his beer packed in a plastic bag at the health food shop, Mr Donald was happy to be driven in a petrol-guzzling car to speak to striking hospital orderlies and kitchen staff outside Auckland Hospital.

"Nurses didn't get enough, but you should get at least what they got in percentage terms," he said.

Nurses recently won a 4 per cent increase upfront and more later, in a deal the health board said averaged out at between 2.5 and 3 per cent a year.

The board has offered the 230 orderlies and kitchen workers 2 per cent.

Then it was into the car again for a trip across to Northcote, where Mr Donald joined other party leaders at a Grey Power meeting and attacked the Government's superannuation fund.

Labour, he said, wanted to invest the billions of dollars building up in the fund mainly in overseas sharemarkets. Yet if it had invested $300 million each in the New York and London sharemarkets a year ago, it would have lost $201 million as share prices plunged and the US and British currencies both fell against the kiwi dollar.

"Rather than putting all our eggs in one fragile basket, the Greens would invest our eggs in a number of key areas: debt repayment, eliminating child poverty, education and training, research and development, employment creation, positive ageing, health, housing, putting the economy on to an ecologically sustainable footing, strategic asset investment and encouraging private saving."

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