Christchurch City Council’s announcement that it has engaged Cameron Partners to provide financial advice on asset sales casts doubt over the value of the consultation process for its Long Term Plan, the Green Party said today. “Mayor Lianne Dalziel is insisting that no decision has been made on asset sales and that the decision will occur only after the consultation has concluded,” said Eugenie Sage, the Green Party’s Christchurch spokesperson. “If that is the case, why on earth would Christchurch...

Political parties need to stop cherry-picking their housing policies and adopt a package of new and wide-ranging measures to help New Zealanders into their first home, the Green Party said today.

The New Zealand government should stop providing intelligence assistance to Bangladeshi security agencies that are known to systematically engage in human rights abuses, said the Green Party today.

John Key needs to recognise his government’s policies are driving up house prices and instead adopt the Reserve Bank’s recommendation to introduce a Capital Gains Tax, the Green Party said today. “The Reserve Bank today said John Key’s policies are preventing Kiwis from owning their own homes and that a Capital Gains Tax is needed to stem the demand created by tax-free gains on property investments,” said Green Party housing spokesperson Kevin Hague. “It’s time for the Government to do...

The Government should take note of huge increases in Auckland’s public transport patronage figures released today by Auckland Transport and bring forward funding for the City Rail Link, the Green Party said. “The Government should stop delaying and fund the City Rail Link immediately,” Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said. “The Green Party will be looking for significant increases in public transport infrastructure investment in Budget 2015. Anything less is short-changing hundreds of thousands of commuters. “At the...

New Zealanders deserve to know when our troops are being deployed to Iraq, said the Green party today.

A huge underspend in special education shows that Government Budget promises can’t be trusted and Ministers have no idea about the real needs of children, the Green Party says. More than $32 million of funding for children with special needs has not been spent by the Government, despite families of children with special needs complaining for years that they’ve been denied the support they deserve. “It’s hard to know whether this is deliberate penny pinching or a complete lack of...

Dark clouds are hanging over the National Government’s tattered image as a responsible manager of the economy following John Key’s hollow pre-Budget speech, the Green Party said today. “John Key’s speech lacks a vision for a better New Zealand. All he announced today is a lower-than-inflation adjustment for research and development spending and a standard school-building programme to keep up with population growth,” Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said. “For years, National has always said that returning the Government’s books...

Reports this morning that landlords are still reluctant to insulate homes for their tenants, despite subsidies to do so, show the urgent need for a Warrant of Fitness for rental homes, the Green Party says. "Making it voluntary for landlords to provide a healthy home for tenants is clearly not working and it’s time that minimum standards for rentals are made mandatory," Green Party housing spokesman Kevin Hague said. "More than a million adults and half a million New Zealand...

The Green Party is happy the Government is adopting key sections of Denise Roche’s members’ bill that winds back the worst aspects of National’s unfair zero hours law.