The Green Party has today announced a set of commitments to honour and implement Te Tiriti o Waitangi in a new progressive government. The commitments, announced at the Party’s Māori campaign launch today, will address ongoing Te Tiriti breaches, fix the Treaty settlement process so that it is just, fair and durable, and uphold Māori representation in local and central government.   “The Greens have the most consistent track record in Parliament of supporting Te Tiriti justice, and we will have the influence...

The Green Party is welcoming Labour’s commitment to greener transport for Auckland after it today announced support for light rail lines to the airport and West Auckland. Labour today said it would prioritise building light rail lines to the airport and West Auckland within a decade. In July the Green Party announced it would fast track rail to the airport by 2021 and is campaigning to have rail to the North Shore completed by 2030. “It’s fantastic to have Labour...

The Green Party is committed to working with Labour to change the government this September.

The Green Party will double the number of rangers working on the frontlines of defending nature, and double the amount of pest control carried out. The conservation plan, announced today in Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges, will allow the Department of Conservation (DOC) to employ an additional 720 frontline rangers, by doubling DOC’s baseline conservation funding. “This is the single biggest new investment in conservation since DOC was established in 1987,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “The plan will allow DOC...

A move by Thames-Coromandel and Hauraki District Councils to give themselves special powers to destroy manawa/mangroves in the Firth of Thames and around Coromandel Peninsula is ill conceived, the Green Party says. The Thames-Coromandel and Hauraki District Council Mangrove Management Bill is sponsored by National MP, Scott Simpson and is awaiting its first reading in Parliament. “The councils’ lack of understanding about the role mangroves play in providing habitat for fish, birds and shellfish in the harbour is disappointing,” Green...

New Zealanders’ health is being put at risk by a chemical in commonly used weed killers deemed unsafe by international agencies, but not our own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Green Party said today.

The Green Party is backing the call by Parliament's environment watchdog for all political parties to support a new law that would require governments to tackle climate pollution in New Zealand. Today the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended all parties come together to support a new climate law that would make emissions targets legally binding and establish an independent expert group to advise government on climate policy and track its progress. “We have a responsibility to pass on a...

The Green Party today launched a plan to trial a new twice-daily passenger train from Palmerston North to Napier, while the Manawatū Gorge is closed to road traffic, as well as a commitment to increase funding to reduce fares on the Capital Connection service between Palmerston North and Wellington. “National has let regional rail services rust away but the Greens in government will restore rail as the backbone of New Zealand’s transport system, for freight and for people,” said Green...

The National Government’s tinkering with the Emissions Trading Scheme will do nothing to actually reduce New Zealand’s climate pollution, the Green Party said today. Paula Bennett today announced a series of small changes to the ETS but continues to subsidise major polluters and to exclude agriculture from the scheme. The Minister also failed to lift the cap that keeps the carbon price low. “The Green Party has no faith that the changes announced to the ETS today will have any...

Many New Zealanders are increasingly struggling to pay for the roof over their heads, according to the latest overview of poverty trends, the Green Party said today. New Zealanders on the lowest incomes are now spending 51 percent of their income on housing, up from 29 percent in 1990, according to the latest Bryan Perry Household Incomes Report out today. “Housing costs are eating into families’ budgets at a rate we’ve never seen before,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said...