The Green Party's former national Co-convenor Pete Huggins will take up a new role supporting Green MPs' political and communications strategy in Parliament at the end of the month, Green Party Chief of Staff Tory Whanau announced today. "Pete has 10 years' experience managing communications and strategy for the Party, and knows the organisation from the grassroots up," Tory Whanau said. "The Greens continue to work with the Labour/NZ First coalition in Government, to deliver policy that ensures our communities...

The Government is backing a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council plan to make Mahia Peninsula possum free with a $1.62 million funding injection announced by Conservation Minister, Eugenie Sage today. The Predator Free Hawke’s Bay Project builds on two existing projects and expands predator control work onto the Mahia Peninsula. “The community wants to create a possum-free Mahia, and at the same time will control feral cats, stoats and ferrets,” Eugenie Sage said. “The Government is contributing $1.62 million through a...

The Green Party has called for a review of MPI’s investigation of a milking shed after new footage of dairy cow abuse was released by Newsroom today. “The footage is absolutely shocking and beating animals with steel tubes should have no place on New Zealand farms,” says Green Party animal welfare spokesperson Gareth Hughes. “This should have been detected and prosecuted the first time the farm was investigated. “MPI needs to do its job and investigate or the entire country’s...

Communities will have two new tools to help combat rats, stoats and possums that are killing our native birds, plants and other wildlife, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said in Nelson today. Eugenie Sage announced a new course on predator training methods and a toolkit to support community groups wanting to help save native birds and wildlife by trapping rats, stoats and possums. “New Zealanders love our unique native forests and plants and species like kiwi, kaka, kakariki and whio/blue duck...

The great white shark and basking shark have been classed as ‘threatened’ for the first time and the future of these species is not positive, a new scientific report released today by Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says. The New Zealand Threat Classification System report updates the conservation status of 113 species or types of sharks, rays and chimaeras (also known as ghost sharks) found in New Zealand waters. “Great whites are long-lived and reach sexual maturity in over 28 years...

The Green Party is heralding today’s transport announcement as the start of a new era of investment in sustainable transport in our towns and cities.   The Government released the final Government Policy Statement on land transport funding today. It allocates up to $1.1 billion for new walking and cycling projects, up to $4.8 billion for rapid transit, and up to $8 billion for public transport over the next decade.   “The Greens campaigned on shifting transport funding away from...

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced funding for the first step in New Zealand’s most ambitious island pest eradication. Speaking at Forest and Bird’s 2018 Conference, the Minister committed $2 million over the next three years to complete planning, including field trials, towards making sub-Antarctic Auckland Island predator free. “This is an ambitious project on the 46,000 ha Auckland Island and a major step towards the goal of New Zealand being predator free by 2050,” Eugenie Sage said. “The funding...

Minister for Climate Change James Shaw has welcomed the ‘Declaration for Ambition’ on climate change, signed by the High Ambition Coalition group of countries. The Coalition is a group of countries, including New Zealand, who are committed to ambitious action to combat climate change. “As the world works towards the next United Nations climate change conference in Poland later this year, it’s important to join with other countries to push for effective climate action and implementation of the Paris Agreement. “Taking...

The Green Party wishes to extend its love and congratulations to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford on the birth of their child.

The treatment of migrant children and families at the United States border is heart-breaking and intolerable. The Green Party calls on the New Zealand Government to condemn this egregious breach of human rights. “The mass detention of children and separation from their families as a part of immigration policy is unacceptable,” says Golriz Ghahraman, Green Party human rights spokesperson. “It is abhorrent to do it as a way to ‘deter’ their parents from seeking asylum or migrating to the United...