The growing gap between what families need to earn to live and what the Government sets as the minimum wage, shows the National Government isn’t doing enough to ensure all New Zealanders can get ahead, the Green Party said. The Government today moved to increase the minimum wage by 50 cents to $15.25 an hour, while the Living Wage Movement announced the actual minimum amount a family needs to earn has increased by 55 cents to $19.80 an hour. “While...

The Green Party offers its condolences for the passing of Dr Ranginui Walker of Te Whakatōhea. “Dr Walker was held in huge esteem throughout New Zealand and by many of us in the Green Party,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said. “I have been on many panels with Ranginui and he has always been open to a fiery debate. He was incredibly well informed, highly opinionated, and always willing to have an open conversation. “As a Māori activist lawyer, then...

The Green Party is encouraging New Zealanders to vote for the flag that they want to represent New Zealand in the upcoming flag referendum.

TV3’s interview with prisoner Arthur Taylor once again highlights a worrying lack of transparency around our prison system, which the National Government has refused to open up to proper independent scrutiny, the Green Party said today. In an interview with TV3’s The Nation, prisoner Arthur Taylor claimed that many New Zealand prisons are still controlled by gangs, and that contraband like cellphones and cigarettes are regularly being smuggled in. “These are serious allegations, but without independent oversight New Zealanders are...

The National Government has set up new-arrival refugees and the services that look after them to fail by not providing adequate funding, said the Green Party today.

The Green Party is calling for the Government to give power back to the people of Christchurch to lead the city's recovery by amending the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Bill.

The Green Party will continue to fight for rivers and lakes New Zealanders can swim in, despite the Primary Production Select Committee deciding this week that it can’t place a moratorium on Landcorp’s potentially polluting dairy conversions at Wairakei Estate in the Waikato. Government-owned Landcorp has been in the process of converting land in the upper Waikato to dairy farms, with plans to introduce 29,500 cows to the environment – putting the Waikato River at further risk of pollution. The...

Record, excessive profits in the banking industry and the high level of foreign ownership of the banking sector is causing long-term damage to the economy, the Green Party said today. KPMG's latest Financial Institutions Performance Survey found New Zealand's banks posted record collective profits up 6.9 percent to reach an all-time high of $5.17 billion last year. Interest margins are also at ten-year highs at 2.28 percent. “The fact that over 90 percent of our banking sector is foreign-owned means...

The cost to New Zealanders of National’s asset sales has today hit $1 billion, according to figures released by the partially privatised power companies. The latest interim dividend figures from the partially privatised Mighty River Power, Genesis, and Meridian show that the Crown has forgone $945.14 million in dividends since the asset sales. The National Government spent $96 million on the asset sales programme, including bonus-share sweeteners for investors. Combined, that means the asset sales have a total cost of...

Pressure is building on the Government to rewrite its Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill as almost everyone who has submitted on the Bill has called for minimum standards to be set that keep people warm, dry and safe in their homes, the Green Party said today. MPs are hearing submissions on the Bill until the end of the week, and so far many have been in favour of the introduction of a rental housing warrant of fitness, as opposed to the...