The constant drive to cut costs by diverting work to workers from other countries leaves New Zealand workers increasingly vulnerable, Green Party industrial relations spokesperson Denise Roche said today. Sealord confirmed it will cut 70 factory jobs, 11 office-based jobs and another 30 contract workers at its Nelson wetfish factory. A significant number of the company's onshore jobs in Nelson could end up being carried out by Russians on Sealord's Ukrainian flagged vessels. "The loss of another 111 jobs from...

The decline in dairy commodity prices should be a call to action for the Government to massively step up its investment in research and development (R&D), the Green Party said today. The key dairy commodity, whole milk powder, plunged further, putting pressure on Fonterra to reduce its forecast milk pay out to farmers. Whole milk powder fell by 7.1 percent overnight following a 5 percent drop a fortnight ago. A pay out to farmers below $5 per kilo of milk...

The Green Party is criticising the Police’s decision to not investigate evidence of criminal activity detailed in the book Dirty Politics.

The weakness of National’s one product to one market economic strategy was highlighted today with falling dairy prices hurting the terms of trade this quarter, the Green Party said. The merchandise (goods) terms of trade fell 4.4 percent in the September 2014 quarter, due to export prices falling more than import prices, led by the decline in international dairy prices. Seasonally adjusted dairy values fell 8.9 percent after an 8.6 percent fall in the June 2014 quarter. “Falling dairy prices...

John Key must assure New Zealand that he has closed down the Black Ops attack unit in his office, and promise to sever all contact with blogger Cameron Slater, the Green Party said today. “John Key has today gone on the defensive making all sorts of excuses for misleading reporters, and Parliament, about his texts to notorious blogger Cameron Slater.” Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman said. “John Key is trying to confuse New Zealanders but in the process is digging...

One of the five Charter schools lauded by the Government as a success has lost a quarter of its school roll this year, with each student now costing four times as much to teach than children in a regular public school, the Green Party said today.

The Green Party has today asked the Chief Archivist to look into the maintenance of public records by the Prime Minister and his office in the wake of admissions by the Government the Prime Minister deletes all his texts.

The Government must urgently fix the broken response to family violence, in the wake of the latest death from domestic violence and the recommendations of the Glenn Inquiry. “How many women and children must die before the glaring problems in the justice system are fixed?” Green Party women’s issues spokesperson Jan Logie said. “It is great that the new Justice Minister Amy Adams is restarting the vital work on alternative trials processes for victims of sexual violence. Now she must...

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s latest report released today reinforces the need for the Government to take climate change seriously, the Green Party said.

Incomes are not keeping up with rising costs for kiwi households, the Green Party said today. Statistics New Zealand released its Household Economic Survey today which found that, while household incomes have increased by 9.1 percent since June 30, 2012, household costs have increased more rapidly, rising 11.1 percent over the same period. The change in household fortunes was not shared evenly. The number of households receiving more than $123,300 annually rose by 14.7 percent (the highest quintile in 2012/13)...