The Government needs to renegotiate the cost sharing agreement with Christchurch City Council rather than force the city to flog off its valuable assets, the Green Party said today. Submissions closed today on the Council’s Long Term Plan 2015-2025. In it, the Council proposes to sell $750 million of assets such as Orion and Christchurch Airport Limited in order to fund an ambitious capital spending programme and its $793m share of the anchor projects. “Anchor projects like the $253m stadium are...

John Key’s trip to Saudi Arabia has now become about women’s rights, as the world watches whether New Zealand’s Prime Minister will stand with or against women, the Green Party said today. “John Key said on the weekend he ‘may’ bring up issues of human rights when he meets with the Saudi King in the next 24 hours, but that is nowhere near good enough,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said. “This is a regime in blatant breach of its...

The Green Party is the first New Zealand political party to call for the remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the genocide of the 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman government. “The 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide is an opportunity to start real and significant reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey,” said Green Party global affairs spokesperson Dr Kennedy Graham. “The Green Party supports the European Parliament’s call for a proposal to establish an ‘International Remembrance Day for Genocides’. “New...

John Key should be judged by the “high” standards that have been the downfall of MPs and state sector bosses, instead he is trivialising his harassment of an Auckland woman, the Green Party says. “Backbench MP Aaron Gilmore lost his job for abusing a waiter, and Former CERA chief Roger Sutton lost his job for behaving in a way that women in his office found offensive. The Prime Minister of New Zealand should be held to a higher standard than...

The Green Party is calling on the Government to develop a plan for reducing plastic bag use following a report out today from the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) that shows public support for adding plastic bags to their list of priority products.

Revelations that New Zealand is being marketed in Malaysia and other parts of Asia as an easy place to make a quick property buck show why we desperately need restrictions on non-resident foreign buyers in our overheated market, the Green Party said today. “These cashed-up non-resident buyers must think New Zealand and the National Government are easy marks,” said Green Party housing spokesperson Kevin Hague. “They can come here, score a bunch of properties, pay no capital gains tax and...

  The Green Party has launched a campaign to create a plastic-bag free New Zealand and is calling on the Government to legislate to phase plastic bags out.

Government suggestions that parents should “shop around” for a free doctor when their child has an accident shows how completely out of touch National is, the Green Party says.

The Government has already broken a key election promise by reneging on a pledge to make all doctors’ visits for under 13 year olds free, the Green Party says. Documents obtained by the Green Party show that the Government decided to fund only 90 percent of doctors’ visits for children suffering from an injury in an attempt trim the cost of the so-called “free” visits. “This makes a lie of the promise to provide free doctors’ visits for all children...

Any measures to stop the sale of Christchurch’s assets, including the proposed Common Sense Plan, should be carefully considered by the Christchurch City Council, the Green Party said today. “Christchurch residents have been telling us that they absolutely do not want asset sales,” said Green Party Christchurch spokesperson Eugenie Sage. “They recognise asset sales for what they really are – short-term, stop-gap thinking – and know they will do little to secure Christchurch’s long-term financial future. “There is a groundswell...