The Green Party supports a strong, independent Tangata Whenua, Community & Voluntary sector contributing to enhance Aotearoa New Zealand’s social, environmental, cultural, physical, spiritual, and economic wellbeing.

Funding for the community and voluntary sector should allow it to thrive

• Funding should be increased with multi-year funding for ongoing programmes.
• Accountability is important. Reporting and evaluation requirements should be realistic, flexible, and proportionate to the amount of funding.
• The tax regime and compliance costs should assist the sector to thrive and innovate.

Communities should not have to rely on gambling revenue

• Communities and local councils should have the ability to phase out all pub pokies in their neighbourhoods and grants should be established to replace their revenue.
• Casinos and gambling premises should be required to distribute a fair proportion of their revenue to community groups, in a transparent and accountable way.

Government should not infringe on the sector’s independence

• Government should facilitate and fund a sector-led review, which leads to the development of a Code of Practice.
• Charities and the sector should be able to advocate for causes, without threats to their funding or charitable status.
• Public funding should not be tied to political motives or reporting practices that raise privacy or human rights concerns.

“Volunteering” deserves better recognition and respect

• Government policy structures should recognise that volunteering means different things to different people, and there is are different cultural contexts to volunteering.
• Tangata whenua, iwi, and hapū have a right to define what “community & voluntary sector” means to them.
• Volunteer work should not be used to replace paid work.

Government should actively support community economic development

• Government should be supportive of community economic development initiatives like time banking, community banking and credit unions, local currencies, and transition towns.
• The regulatory environment should support the maintenance and development of local markets including crafts and farmers' markets.