In the wake of cyclone Pam, the National Government must respond to calls from our Pacific neighbours to take real action on climate change, the Green Party said today.

The Waitemata Harbour tunnel idea announced today by Transport Minister Simon Bridges doesn’t make sense unless the City Rail Link is built first, the Green Party said. “The Government is trying to sugar coat this tunnel announcement by saying it can include rail, but rail to the North Shore won’t work until Britomart is expanded for the City Rail Link,” Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said. “The City Rail link should be the number one transport priority in...

The Green Party has blocked the Government’s plan that could have increased travel benefits for MPs that entered Parliament prior to 1999.

The Green Party’s thoughts and condolences are with people of Vanuatu who have been affected by Cyclone Pam, and believes this must serve as a wakeup call for action on climate change.

New Zealand’s relationships with its Pacific neighbours have been damaged by the latest revelations that the GCSB has been spying on Cabinet Ministers and top level Government officials in the Solomon Islands, the Green Party said today. “Our relationships with Pacific countries are hugely important and the Government now needs to fix the damage it’s done by spying,” said Green Party security and intelligence spokesperson Kennedy Graham. “When it first became known that the GCSB was spying on the Pacific,...

Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei is inviting John Key to join her for lunch at decile 1 Windley School in Porirua next Wednesday, following the Prime Minister’s offer to undertake such a visit during question time yesterday. “I’m challenging John Key to come face to face with the reality of hunger for some of our kids. When he does, he will find it harder to vote against my Bill to alleviate child hunger in schools,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria...

The Government’s attempt to change the formula for setting MPs’ salaries could be riddled with embarrassing errors, the Green Party said today.

The Treasury’s announcement today that a deficit for the 2014-15 financial year is likely shows that the Government is failing to meet the key economic target that it set itself, the Green Party said today. “National has always emphasised that achieving a surplus is its number one goal, but it looks like it will fail to achieve that goal and instead we’ll have a $572 million deficit this financial year,” Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman said. “We’re now seeing evidence...

The Government has distanced itself from the Auckland Council decision to allow the destruction of a centuries-old kauri and rimu trees in Titirangi to make way for two houses, the Green Party said today. When asked by Green Party conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage in Parliament today about the lack of protection afforded to the kauri by the Resource Management Act, Environment Minister Nick Smith said it was up to councils to decide the fate of such trees and he would...

Children in poverty can’t wait for the Budget to bring them enough food, or shoes -  they need urgent Government action in the wake of evidence that one in six kids are going without the basics, the Green Party says. In their latest book, The Child Poverty Debate, Professors Jonathan Boston and Simon Chapple contrast the country’s focus on the needs of older New Zealanders with the poverty crisis facing children, and say one in six kids are suffering from...