Louise Hutt

The early bird gets the gluten free donuts for International Donut Day!

As many of you know, my mum's been a coeliac for a very long time - which means she hasn't had a donut in a very long time either. Just last night we were watching Bake Off and she was saying how she's never seen anything like what they bake (even though gluten free options have come a loooong way in the last 30 years).

So a big shout out to the Wooden Spoon on London Street - who had a massive spread today, and who are a 100% gluten free cafe every day 🧁😋✨

See you there! 💚✨

RSVP here: https://www.greens.org.nz/pints_politics_kirikiriroa

Kirikiriroa! Join our Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, with Green MPs Steve Abel, Francisco Hernandez and Scott Willis for a kōrero about how Aotearoa has enough for everyone to live affordable lives in a country where people and nature thrive. RSVP or at link in bio.

We had a great Te Tiriti session yesterday - examining historical context, different individuals who had influence (and their agendas), and also how colonisation uses the same plays over and over again no matter where it's happening (terra nullius in Australia, doctrine of discovery still being used as recently as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as everything we're seeing in Palestine...).

I'm so grateful to have been in a room full of people eager to learn, challenge the colonial narratives we've heard, and no longer accept "we didn't learn about it in school" as a reason to continue not knowing.

Only having politicians with personal or family wealth is objectively bad for democracy. Allowances to make sure people elected from all walks of life, no matter where you live, can be effective at their jobs isn't the issue.

People with existing personal or family wealth taking the p**s is.

We want people who have never earned an MPs salary before to be MPs. That's critical to having lived experience of what it's like to be an average New Zealander. That also means they might not own property, not have savings, or maybe they have debt to pay off like many average New Zealanders do.

Making sure anyone who's elected has the tools to do their job - including the cost of having to spend half your time in another city - is not unreasonable. The system should enable a level of parity between MPs, because god forbid we forget housing is a human right, but this is what makes rorting the system, and especially the double whammy of politicians who have cut accomodation allowances for people so far below an MPs salary, so offensive.

I will never forget what it was like to be on a WINZ accomodation allowance. How dehumanising WINZ can be. Never, ever.

Maybe we need more people elected who know what it's like to do battle to get your bare minimum "entitlements" at WINZ than we do people who are well practiced at protecting their wealth through loopholes and technicalities.

As a former public servant, there's something particularly despicable about the precedent set this term for jumping through legislative hoops only to say "of course we were never going to make it actually law, we just wanted to punch down on communities through public discourse".

We saw it with the Treaty Principles Bill, where we were constantly told it wasn't actually going to pass but let's have the public service work it up anyway. Let's put it through the hoops in case they change their mind at the last minute. Of course the public service needs culling back when you get them to waste all their time on culture wars dressed up as legislative priority.

This newest nonsense from New Zealand First not only attacks our rainbow and takatāpui community - and in particular our trans and intersex whānau - but it also erodes our faith that governments can and should make decisions that materially improve the lives of the people who live here. We could be investing in mental health, in housing, in jobs and education - and yet we're investing in pearl clutching instead. The so-called parties of "fiscal responsibility" wasting money once again on legislation that will not actually help a single person in this country.

And for our public sector? If you still have a job, good luck working on anything meaningful, that won't be ripped apart or rolled back, or is simply bad-faith politiking against our communities.

This is a political choice.

It's a beautiful morning to catch Te Huia! 😎🚂

It seems like everyday there's a new attack on Te Tiriti from this government and their shenanigans - if you're curious about learning more but don't know where to start, this is the event for you.

No prior knowledge required, just an open mind and willingness to learn.

Limited to Green Party members, but it costs as little as $5 to become a member!

RSVP here: https://www.greens.org.nz/khm_se_260530