The Government needs to stop living in denial about the impact of non-resident foreign speculators on the Auckland housing market and start legislating to help New Zealanders own their own homes, the Green Party said today. “The Reserve Bank yesterday announced that it will use the limited tools at its disposal to try to dampen the impact of domestic investors, but it doesn’t have the means to stop non-resident foreign buyers from continuing to cash in on Auckland’s overcooked housing...

The Government should listen to forest owners and fix their climate change policies, which are driving trees to be cut down rather than planted, meaning New Zealand’s polluting greenhouse gas emissions will increase says the Green Party.

The Reserve Bank is being forced into acting on the Auckland housing crisis because the Government is refusing to, the Green Party said today. 

The Environment Court’s decision to allow regional councils to have a say in the use of genetically modified organisms gives communities an extra level of protection from GE crops entering their regions, the Green Party said today. The Court decided yesterday in favour of Northland Regional Council that councils are able to make provisions for the control of GMOs through their regional policy statements and plans. “Communities such as Hawke’s Bay and Northland are recognising the benefits of remaining GE-free...

New Zealand women today are earning just $22 a week more than the national average weekly earnings in 1970, the Green Party has revealed. “It feels like we’re stuck in a bad episode of Mad Men ­­­­­­– Kiwi women aren’t getting paid what they deserve and we’ve got a long way to go until we reach pay equity,” said Green Party spokesperson for women Jan Logie. “Adjusted for inflation, New Zealanders were earning $770 a week in 1970; in Q1...

Today’s release of the Government’s financial position shows that the National Government is likely to present a Budget next week that disappoints New Zealanders and fails to present any vision for the New Zealand economy, the Green Party said. “With yet another Budget deficit on the way next week, it’s clear that John Key and Bill English are not the responsible and prudent fiscal managers that they’ve pretended to be,” Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman said. “National had the opportunity...

The Government needs to stop its mass surveillance after the type of metadata collection used by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) has been ruled illegal in the United States, the Green Party said today.

Concerns over water quality at the Rio de Janeiro’s Olympics Games next year should prompt concerns here in New Zealand, where rowers at Lake Karapiro are exposed to water that’s becoming increasingly polluted. A TV3 report last night claimed rowers and Olympic officials were worried about athletes getting sick from poor water quality at venues in Rio. “If athletes are concerned about the effects to their health from water in Rio, they should question the state of our waterways here....

Failing to take action on climate change, by cutting New Zealand’s emissions, will be extremely expensive to the New Zealand economy, says the Green Party, in response the release of an unbalanced and inaccurate Government discussion document on the target they will take to the critical global climate conference in Paris later this year. 

Bill English’s refusal in Parliament today to rule out selling state houses to non-resident foreign individuals or groups, or put a restriction on those groups selling them on for non-social housing use, demonstrates that the Government’s “social housing reform” is just a state house sell off. “Make no mistake about it – New Zealand is for sale and vulnerable Kiwis’ lives could be in the hands of companies or business owners who are in the social-housing ‘game’ to land bank...