After more than a year of campaigning by Green MP Mojo Mathers, the Government has finally agreed to ban cosmetics testing on animals, the Green Party said today. “I’m over the moon that the Government has acknowledged my work on this issue by finally agreeing to ban cosmetics testing on animals,” said Green Party animal welfare spokesperson Mojo Mathers. “I have been working solidly behind the scenes to get this ban through Parliament for some time now. “During the course...

The Green Party is calling on the Government to drop its mean-spirited move to appeal a court decision that respite carers should be paid at least the minimum wage. The Green Party can reveal that Crown lawyers yesterday lodged an application to appeal against an Employment Court decision that respite carers should be paid at least the minimum wage. Currently these workers are paid a daily amount of just $75. The move comes as the minimum wage for other workers...

The National Government looks set to miss the first UN deadline to submit its emissions reduction target for 2030, the Green Party said today. Mexico, Norway, Switzerland and the European Union’s 28 member states have delivered their ‘intended nationally determined contributions’ (INDCs) to the United Nations (UN) ahead of a March 31 deadline. Switzerland has set a target to reduce 1990 emission levels by 50 percent by 2030. The US is committed to meeting the deadline, and China and the...

The National Party Government has today revealed that the national environmental report topics for this year will, incredibly, exclude New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Party said today. “The topics, vetted by the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Statistics, are supposed to give New Zealanders a clear picture of the state of our environment, but by omitting greenhouse gas emissions, it conveniently glosses over the problem of New Zealand’s contribution to climate change,” Green Party Co-leader...

The Government’s block offer announcement of an area almost twice the size of New Zealand and including the home of the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin and other protected conservation areas is further evidence of how out of touch they’ve become, the Green Party said today.

The National Party’s loss in the Northland by-election is proof that the tide has turned on an increasingly out of touch Government, says the Green Party.

The Green Party is pleased the Inspector General of the Intelligence and Security (IGIS) has confirmed that she will be undertaking an inquiry following a complaint from the Green Party into the actions of the Government Communication Security Bureau (GCSB) in the South Pacific.

The National Government’s research and development (R&D) strategy has failed, with no growth in the proportion of businesses investing in R&D since its first year in office, the Green Party said today. The Statistics NZ Business Operations Survey, released on 20 March 2015, shows that in 2009 eight percent of businesses invested in R&D and that in 2014, the proportion of businesses investing in R&D was still just eight percent. “Steven Joyce’s R&D experiment has clearly failed, with just eight...

National appears to be giving foreign corporations extra rights to sue governments if they legislate to act in the national interest, says the Green Party. New documents, leaked today, show that under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), the investor state section under negotiation appears to go further than similar clauses in existing trade documents. “National is governing in the interest of foreign companies at the expense of local interests,” said Green Party trade spokesperson James Shaw. “The Prime Minister needs...

The Government must rule out selling state homes for private developers to profit from, the Green Party said today. “The Government looks set to sell off these assets to property developers, and then pay the same developers to house low income tenants through the Income Related Rent Subsidy. It’s a perverse money-go-round in which only the developers win,” Green Party housing spokesperson Kevin Hague said. “New Zealand has built up a valuable stock of state houses that meets a need...