Budget 2020 kicked off the Green Reset that the Green Party has been pushing for, creating thousands of jobs, improving people’s lives and protecting our natural environment.

These initiatives show the importance of having the Green Party at the Government table. Ensuring nature is protected is a cornerstone of the Greens’ role as a Government partner. This funding shows how powerful that partnership is.

Here’s a rundown of this first step in our Green Reset after COVID-19.

Thousands of new green jobs

We’re helping New Zealanders back into work with projects that will stimulate the economy while protecting nature and the environment.

Thanks to the $1.1 billion investment we secured, thousands of New Zealanders will be able to roll up their sleeves, plant native trees, help with pest control, and clean up rivers and lakes to get our economy humming and our forests chirping. 

These jobs will come from a number of projects across Aotearoa, such as:

• Wetland, river and estuary restoration to improve the health of the Kaipara Harbour, New Zealand’s largest harbour
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• Setting up a new Jobs for Nature Fund for DOC to partner with councils, tourism businesses, iwi and hāpu and communities to provide nature based jobs
  
  
• Pest control and eradication, including advancing the Predator Free New Zealand vision and working with iwi to prevent the collapse of North Island forests
  
  
• Controlling wilding conifers which are a threat to farmland and natural landscapes and wallabies which are spreading fast

• Enhancing nature and indigenous biodiversity on public and private land with DOC working with the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust, regional councils and landholder groups to create jobs in revegetation, pest and weed control, and riparian planting
  
  
• Wilding conifer control on public and private land
  
  
• Pest and weed control on Crown land in river beds and control and eradication of aquatic weeds in Lakes Wakatipu and Wanaka
  
  
• Wallaby control in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Canterbury and Otago. 

The Department of Conservation’s new Jobs for Nature Fund will see DOC partner with councils, tourism businesses, iwi and hapu, and communities to provide these nature based jobs.

We’re really proud to have secured this investment. Not only will it create jobs in hard hit regions, but it will help ensure generations now and in the future have healthier forests, rivers and harbours.

A comprehensive plan to ensure warm, safe homes

The Green Party has long advocated for warm, dry homes for all New Zealanders and finally, Budget 2020 has set out a comprehensive plan to do this. 

Today's announcement outlines how we plan to help thousands of families into the warm, safe homes they deserve.

Here’s what is included in the Government’s housing package:

Funding boost for family violence services

Led by our amazing Jan Logie MP, the Government is continuing to work towards its commitment to end family and sexual violence in Aotearoa.

Budget 2020 included a massive injection of funding to support our essential family violence services, whose work has been shown to be so critical over the COVID-19 lockdown.

The initiatives have a strong focus on specialist services which support victims of family violence, people experiencing elder abuse, and preventative initiatives which focus on helping people to stop using violence. 

Food in Schools

New funding for school lunches is another initiative the Greens have long championed, and we’re really proud to be part of a Government taking inequality seriously.

Funding school lunches will ensure that fewer children are trying to learn on an empty stomach.  

In the wake of the COVID crisis we have a real chance to reimagine Aotearoa as a place where everyone gets a fair go. By reducing the material impacts of inequality at school, we can give our future generations a step up by supporting their education and wellbeing.