The Government should heed calls from child rights advocates and raise the age of youth justice to include 17 year olds, the Green Party said today. 34 community, academic and justice organisations today released a joint letter urging the Government to include 17 year olds in the youth justice system, days before New Zealand will appear before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. “The evidence is clear: allowing 17 year olds to be tried in youth...

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett is letting families suffer while she quibbles about the amount of subsidy community housing providers should stump up to build homes for them, the Green Party said today. The Government has said it will pay 50 percent to community housing providers to build homes for our most vulnerable families, leaving those providers to find the remaining 50 percent. Unfortunately, many providers such as the Salvation Army aren’t in a position to come up with that...

The National Government must make it a top priority to close a loophole allowing criminals to launder money through the housing market, the Green Party said today. “The National Government has mishandled the housing crisis to such an extent that even criminals are using the housing market to their advantage, while families are locked out,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. “The Minister sat on her hands for a year before any policy work to close the loophole started, which...

The Government is toying with Kiwis’ right to a fair trial by underfunding legal aid services and shuttering offices across the county, the Green Party said today. The Ministry of Justice confirmed today that all but two of the country’s regional legal aid offices will be closed, following recent revelations that funding for legal aid has not kept up with demand. “Ensuring that everyone who needs it has high quality, compassionate legal aid should be a priority for any government,...

John Key needs to show leadership and commit to resettling people from Pacific nations that are at serious risk of being displaced by climate change, the Green Party said today.

The National Government needs to now take responsibility and set some bottom lines around investment in cluster bombs, landmines, and nuclear weapons, the Green Party said today. The Police have today decided not to prosecute fund managers who have made investments in cluster bomb manufacturers, saying such investments do not breach the Cluster Munitions Prohibition Act. The legality of those investments now remains up in the air. “New Zealanders haven’t changed their opinion on the ethics of cluster bombs so...

Poverty is stagnating in New Zealand, and the National Government has no plan to help the kids from low income families who are falling further behind. ‘The material wellbeing of NZ households report’ by Bryan Perry, the most comprehensive look at poverty in this country, was released today and shows that child poverty is becoming normal in this country, and on some measures is back to levels not seen since the GFC. “The lot of New Zealand children has not...

Green MP Catherine Delahunty has presented a petition with almost 5000 signatures calling on Government to support her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill, which is due to be debated in Parliament next week.

The Green Party is calling on the Government to back a motion at the World Conservation Congress to preserve 30 percent of oceans as marine reserves. Prime Minister, John Key has said it was “very unlikely” that New Zealand would support a motion to make 30 percent of national waters Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2030. Member states are voting on the motion at the World Conservation Congress being held in Hawaii this week. "By not supporting this motion, John...

The National Government rushed to change the law governing Special Housing Areas (SHAs) in just six weeks, the Green Party said today. Responding to an Official Information Act request, Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said that on 28 June 2016 he had received no information or advice to date about the expiry of the Auckland Housing Accord, extending the Accord, or new initiatives to replace the Accord. SHAs in Auckland have been created through the Auckland Housing Accord. Smith...