The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage is celebrating 50 years of Conservation Week or Te Wiki Tiaki Ao Turoa and encouraging people to get involved in conservation.
“We’ve come a long way since the first Conservation Week in 1969. Some of the biggest conservation triumphs include remarkable turnarounds in the populations of species that were on the verge of extinction,” Eugenie Sage said.
The Government’s commitment to ensure New Zealand history is taught in all schools by 2022 is part of a landmark day for our nation’s story, said Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson.
The Prime Minister made the announcement during a speech at the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the New Zealand Wars in Parliament’s debating chamber this morning.
Māori place names have been restored to the small central North Island town of Benneydale, and a nearby stretch of the North Island Main Trunk railway announced Minister for Land Information Eugenie Sage.
Benneydale has been changed to a dual name ‘Maniaiti / Benneydale’ and the main trunk railway between Te Awamutu and Taumarunui, is now named ‘Te Ara-o-Tūrongo’ following a request from Ngāti Maniapoto.
The Green Party welcome the fresh water policy proposals announced for consultation by Government that seeks to treat water as taonga and recognise te mana o te wai (“the innate life force of the water”).
“Water is life and the wellbeing of our communities and nature depends on it. We have long needed a holistic approach that ensures our water stays clean and healthy from the mountain to the sea”, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today.
Green Party Co-leader and housing spokesperson Marama Davidson today welcomed the change to KiwiBuild that include $400 million earmarked for progressive homeownership.
“We secured a progressive home ownership scheme as part of KiwiBuild when we entered Government and that’s exactly what we’ve seen announced today.
“$400 million will deliver meaningful change for the people who are locked out of home ownership by high rents and low wages.
“I congratulate Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi, for deciding to introduce an amendment to cap interest rates on high cost loans”, Green Party spokesperson on Consumer Affairs Gareth Hughes said today.
“I’ve been urging the Minister to take this step otherwise the legislation wouldn’t have been as effective to protect consumers from loan sharks.
“Without interest rate caps we still could have seen annualised interest rates in the high-hundreds or thousands of percent which is simply wrong and damaging.
A project with a zero waste vision for marae is getting extra support to expand into new regions as part of the Government’s plan to tackle New Zealand’s long term waste problem announced Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage in Raglan today.
A grant of $528,000 from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) will help the marae-based Para Kore programme to expand to four new regions: Te Tai Tokerau (Northland), Wairoa, Maniapoto (Waikato/Waitomo) and Wairarapa.
The Green Party is welcoming today’s announcement of a pilot programme to provide school lunches in 30 schools, expanding to 120 schools by 2021.
“All kids deserve a full education and a full stomach. A guaranteed lunch every day will have a huge impact on learning for the students who need it the most,” said Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson.
“Too many children are going to school hungry on a daily basis. It affects their ability to concentrate, to learn, and get the most out of their education. As a country we can’t allow this to continue.
The Green Party is disappointed with the outcome of a review into MP pay that is likely to still increase politicians’ pay beyond the wages of other working New Zealanders.
“The plan is to revert to an older system for setting MP pay through the Remuneration Authority”, Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said today.
“While this should prevent the sort of sharp increases in MP payments we’ve seen recently, it’s still not good enough.
“It’s disappointing when we could be bringing MP pay in line with annual wage changes experienced by New Zealanders generally.
News that previous National Trade Minister Todd McClay facilitated a large donation from racing industry billionaire Lin Lang demonstrates the need for donation reform in New Zealand.
“This is deeply alarming and highlights why we need stronger and more transparent political donation laws”, says Green Party Electoral spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman.
“This is another example of powerful vested interests tipping big money into the coffers of the National Party. This can be dangerous and we’ve seen this play out badly for democracy globally.