Green Party co-leader Rod Donald, 48, has died.


A Green Party spokeswoman told NZPA Mr Donald died overnight at his home in Banks Peninsula.

It is understood he suffered a heart attack.

Mr Donald is survived by his partner, Nicola, and their three daughters, Holly, Emma and Zoe.

Holy shit! If he's gone does that mean Nandor's coming back?

This truly is an awful tragedy for a man with so much more to offer New Zealand. He was one of the only true intellectuals in parliament, and was also one of the most humble and valuable people in the house too. He was the person who convinced me that Green politics were sane.

Rest in peace.

EDIT: Apparently he had a chest infection last week, so this could be related to that.

That sucks

Heart Attacks seem to be going around lately, a close friend of our family recently died of one (or so we think)

A sad day

A very interesting point. Maybe he will????

thats sad to hear, he had a good head on his shoulders. rather convienient circumstances....

You think we'll be discussing anything apart from that? Donald isn't a David Lange, so no state funeral for him. I thought the Greens had a healthy lifestyle!

RIP

Yeh it should mean Nandor's back in. I wonder if they will get another co-leader or if Jeanette Fitzsimons will just become the supreme leader

wtf Chiang, wtf

RIP.

Seems to be something about politicians dying recently, two of the best politicians (IMO) the UK has seen died recently, one of a heart attack another of a long term illness.

Hope the greens continue to strengthen.

This is terrible.

holy FUCK! awwwwww, that sucks so bad :(

Awful news. Seemed to be an honest and genuinely nice guy, as well as being highly intelligent. One of my favourite MPs. :(

It is a shame. For a minor party, he made the greens out to be more human that, say, the Maori party.

He was fucking cool to talk to the other month at the Occi :( I just hope he goes well with whatever he's going through now.

Purgatory?

I nominate Rodney Hide to be sacrificed to His Noodlyness as a trade for Rod Donald's resurrection. I'm honestly gutted that such a fine man died so suddenly. It's a good question who will replace him as co-leader (if anyone will), but Nandor may get in.

Adolf... try to be a little nicer about this? Pretty please?

Aye. He may be from a party I'm a against but he was still an elected MP.

It's nothing to do with him being an elected MP, it's to do with the fact that he is actually a nice and humble guy (unlike 99% of other politicians). Even if you're against the Greens (as I was at one point), it's a fallacy not to recognise that.

In all the online community of New Zealand, from blog to journo, Adolf is the first person I've seen who has expressed anything other than sadness for Donald's family and respect for Donald, who was by all accounts a very warm, considerate and intelligent person.

Rod Donald was the Green MP I admired and liked most, and I honestly thought he had a good 15 years more in Parliament before him - perhaps even becoming Deputy PM one day. It really is a huge loss to Parliament and New Zealand to for someone of his calibre to die so young, with so much promise.

Nandor will be the next Green MP, as he is 7th on the list- unless he decides not to, in which case it will be Mike Ward, unless he decides not to - I'm sure they will find a candidate on the list somewhere that does want to be an MP.

In terms of political impact, this leaves the Greens very shaky for 2008. Fitzsimmons may well be retiring, and none of the other Green MPs has as the leadership capabilities that Donald did. It may thrust Meteria Turei into the Co-Leaders role well before she would have wanted to.

I'm still finding it difficult to imagine that he has died, that I will never see him again on TV, that I will never get to meet him in person, and that his dream of serving in Cabinet will go unfulfilled.

Rest in Peace, Rod Donald.

Lets see, you use Rods death to make a joke about killing Rodney Hide to bring him back. Perhaps you should be a bit nicer about this, otherwise put on the big old Hypocrite title.

Yeah but Rodney Hide is an environment-hating capitalist cunt.

Jesus, kids, he was still a human being. He was still no different to you or I.

RH isn't the one who's dead and has family and supporters grieving for him. If that happens then it would be hypocritical to make such a remark. RH is still alive to find that joke funny.

RIP Rod Donald.

Not at the expense of Rod Donald, which is what you did. I can't see an evironmentalist/Green MP being entertained at the death of a person.

I did not intend to say anything at the expense of Mr Donald. Awfully sorry if I did though. It's cool.

Mrt, the irony here is that your first comment in the thread was regarding Nandor coming back in, and you expressed no particular sympathy for what happened to RD.

And the moral of the story is... eat meat, drink as much as you can, smoke 20 cigarettes a day. Cos even if you don't death can creep up and bite you in the arse whoever you are and whatever your lifestyle is.

It's too bad this didn't happen at a better time, because it would make great pub quiz name fodder. 'Tree hugging causes heart attacks' or some such.

Tragedy is the new comedy :oob:

Rod was awesome. He was one of the smartest people in parliament and had huge political prowess without being a total dick about it like nearly every single other MP (around the world). The voice of moderation for many like myself without whom the Green Party would be nothing more thana weird fringe party picking up 2% like the Libertarianz or something. RIP.













I'm astounded at the likes of adolf chiang and mrt. There are a lot of people here who truly feel for the loss of Rod Donald. I know that it is absolutely necesary to show your partisan values in every threads and make sure you don't lose an argument on the internet, but is it possible to just respect someone for the man he is (was) in the 24 hours or so after his death? If not, please don't post snide remarks on a thread that is serving as a tribute as you only come off as looking like a total cock

Apparently the new co-leader has to be male (for gender equality reasons - don't get me started on this) and does not necessarily have to be an MP

Heh, he actually claims to be pro enviroment via "personal responsibility", having done a degree in enviromental science or something similiar, and lectured in it too I believe.

:( Pwned. Fair enough mrt. That comment was unnecessary.

But in all honesty, since I'm not as saintly as Rod Donald, I'll gladly say I'd rather trade Hide's life for Rod's. On a purely environmental level, Rod consumed less resources and caused less noise and visual pollution.

Hopefully Nandor will step up and take on part of Rod's legacy. We partly owe MMP to Rod's advocacy - whether good or bad, that's a massive thing - and he pushed simple, effective ways to reduce energy use which I think deserve a try. :( I'm sad I never got to meet him.

It may be ironic but I wouldn't call it insulting.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cf...jectID=10353960

So it turns out it wasn't a heart attack...

Surely Nandor also qualifies?

EDIT: Awesome cartoon from this morning's Dominion Post - I found it on the Green Party's Frogblog:

Rod Donald's death is absolutely insane. He's probably the very last MP I'd want to die. Not only did he have the funniest name in Parliament, but he was the nicest guy in Parliament too, and will be a huge loss to the Greens, to Parliament and to New Zealand. He will be greatly missed.

Nandor, while not as effective as Rod, is a very hard worker who I think deserves to be in Parliament, while not necessarily more than the six (now five) Green MPs above him on the list. He'd be the best replacement in my opinion.

I think Keith Locke would make a good co-leader, if they decide they need one.

So it seems Rod didn't die of a heart attack. Maybe they should dust his house for Nandor's prints...? Sorry, that was tasteless.

Isnt Locke the guy who lost the bet and got naked?

Almost naked.

While thinking Locke kicks arse (having met him once and being familiar with his stances on issues), I don't think he has enough anger or fire in his belly to run for co-leader. Perhaps he could grow into the role, something that I think is quite possible, but it would be interesting if they had a look at the other avaliable candidates.

RIP Rod Donald

Welcome back Nandor