Kia ora
As the dust settles after the Budget, what it means for ordinary New Zealanders has become clear: smaller KiwiSaver accounts, bigger food and petrol bills, less in the pocket from Working for Families, and a harder path out of poverty and into education due to student loan changes.
There is an alternative. We'd raise new revenue so there'd be no need for cuts or more borrowing, and we'd do this in ways that close the gap between the haves and the have nots. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would put around $60 in the back pockets of low-income New Zealanders, and raise around $173m per year for the Government books in taxes.
We're ready with the alternatives. Let's not have another Budget like this one.
Metiria Turei, Green MP
Read more about our alternatives in the Green Budget Paper 2011
- recommended 
- includes video
In this issue
Take action
Warm, Healthy Rentals: send an eCard to John Key
There are at least 1 million substandard homes in New Zealand and rental properties are generally the worst performing of these. We are calling on the Government to create performance standards which ensure warm, healthy, rentals.
Read about the warm, healthy rentals campaign | Send an eCard | Tell us your flatting horror stories
Events
Steaming Ahead: David Clendon travels by steam train to help save Northland rail line
Saturday 28 May, 7:30-8am
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Mt Albert Train Station, corner New North and Carrington Road
Steaming Ahead: David Clendon catches steam train to Whangarei to help save rail line
Saturday 28 May, 2:45pm - 3:15pm
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Whangarei Train Station, Railway Road, Whangarei
Plan Bee Public Forum: Can our environment and economy survive without bees?
Thursday 2 June, 7-9:30pm
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Tauranga Rowing Club, Memorial Park, Devonport Rd, Tauranga
Save our bees, with Sue Kedgley - Nelson
Thursday 2 June, 7-9:30pm
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Trafalgar Pavilion (Trafalgar Park), Hathaway Tce, Nelson
Save our bees, with Sue Kedgley - Havelock North
Thursday 14 June, 7-9:30pm
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Havelock North Community Centre
Public Meeting: Visions of Christchurch: A Sustainable and Resilient Rebuild
Second Forum Sunday 12 June, 6-8pm
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New Brighton
Third Forum Sunday 19 June, 6-8pm
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Lyttleton
Save the Mokihinui Public Forum with Kevin Hague - Rotorua
Tuesday 28 June, 7-9pm
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Room N230 (library building), Waiariki Institute of Technology, Mokoia Drive, Rotorua
Podcasts
Online public meeting on file sharing - full audio
On Wednesday 25 May 2011, Green Party ICT Spokesperson Gareth Hughes hosted a virtual public meeting on the recent copyright legislation, with guest speakers David Farrar, Vikram Kumar, and Bronwyn Holloway-Smith. Listen to podcast...
Subscribe to our podcasts in iTunes
Press releases
State housing budget slashed again
20 May 2011
John Key's Government has again slashed state house funding at a time of dire housing need Read more...
Budget 2011 lacks courage on revenue
19 May 2011
The National Government's refusal to raise revenue has left it with no other options but to cut, borrow, and sell in this year's Budget, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today. Read more...
Greens welcome broadband back down
18 May 2011
National's back down over the Ultrafast Broadband Bill is a win for New Zealanders but new public-private partnership provisions could cost taxpayers, says Green Party MP Gareth Hughes. Read more...
Taxing capital gains essential to protect taxpayers and family farms
18 May 2011
The absence of a comprehensive tax on capital gains allows some farmers to make huge untaxed profits while leaving other taxpayers to pay for government services like schools and hospitals, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today. Read more...
Unlawful student loan changes in Budget?
17 May 2011
Changes signalled to the student loan scheme in Thursday's Budget will discriminate against older people and almost certainly breach human rights law, the Green Party said today. Read more...
Raise the minimum wage to help the Govt books
16 May 2011
The Government can make smart choices in next week's Budget that raise hundreds of millions of dollars and deliver significant social benefits, the Green Party said today. Read more...
Smart Budget would reinstate TIA
16 May 2011
The Government can make smart choices in next week's Budget that deliver big benefits at a small cost, the Green Party said today. Read more...
Blog posts
Statistics, hyperbole, and hypocrisy on the minimum wage - by Metiria Turei
Prime Minister John Key claims the Greens’ policy, now also supported by Labour, of increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour will “put 6000 people out of work.” The Department of Labour calculates that increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour could result in a “potential loss in job growth” of 4,280 - 5,710 jobs. That’s very different from putting 6000 people out of work. Read more...
National Standards - fake it till you make it? - by Catherine Delahunty
Some school principals have revealed that they are getting some interesting advice from the Ministry of Education about how to incorporate the National Standards into their school charters. Read more...
Our alternative Green Budget - by frog
We have choices this Budget day.
We can choose to use the deficit crisis as a reason to cut and sell and leave the economy no different from the place we were in when things went wrong. Read more...
On tour with welfare - by Catherine Delahunty
Since March, I have been travelling to different communities to discuss issues of welfare justice in light of the Welfare Working Group's final report which suggests major reforms to our welfare system.
So far I have met with people in Rotorua, Whangarei, Waihi and Turanga (Gisborne). Read more...
Right wrong on the youth minimum wage - by Gareth Hughes
There is a renewed push from the political right to reintroduce youth rates for the minimum wage. Read more...
Speeches
Budget 2011: The courage to look at revenue - Russel Norman MP, 19 May 2011
The Green Party is the only party that has put forward a series of tax broadening measures that would both raise revenue and begin the smart green transformation of our economy. Watch video or read transcript...
Leaky homes, what a fiasco - Sue Kedgley MP, 17 May 2011
The leaky homes saga is one of the worst man-made—I use the word "man" advisedly—disasters in the history of New Zealand and affects, some are estimating, as many as 80,000 households and could cost anywhere between $11 billion and $23 billion to fix. Watch video or read transcript...
