The Green Party is calling for a comprehensive review into what involvement, if any, Cabinet Ministers had in the decision to allow a Malaysian diplomat, who had been charged with serious sexual offences, to leave New Zealand before his trial. The official inquiry into the events, the full results of which are still secret, left out Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and Police Minister Anne Tolley and only scrutinised processes and actions by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs...

New Zealand needs to push for a much stronger final agreement in the last week of climate talks in Paris, the Green Party said today. Overnight (NZ time), negotiators submitted a “Draft Paris Agreement”, which ministers will work with from Monday to try and reach a final deal by Friday’s deadline. “It’s exciting that we’ve reached this point, but the text is still riddled with unresolved issues, and a huge divide remains between developed and developing countries in terms of who should do what,” said...

Plans to expand the Waihi goldmine even further into the Waihi community shows the urgent need for the Government to support a new Green Party bill that protects communities from the destruction and damage of mining, the Green Party said today. OceaniaGold will be expanding their explorations underneath Waihi and already have the resource consents to do so according to reports yesterday. “People affected by the extension of mining in Waihi shouldn’t have their rights to live peacefully in their own homes...

The National Government's love affair with fossil fuels has just become more embarrassing, as New Zealand was voted one of the top ten most attractive nations for the fossil fuel industry to do business in, the Green Party says. The Government was yesterday given a top 10 ranking by the Fraser Institute for making New Zealand more attractive to the fossil fuel sector.  Oil executives surveyed by the institute praised governments who supported their industry through government spending, tax settings,...

The Superannuation Fund and the ACC Fund should join the 500 institutions, worth $3.4 trillion USD (approximately $5.09 trillion NZD), who have pledged to divest from fossil fuels as part of the Divest for Paris campaign, the Green Party said. “Investing public money in looking for more fossil fuels doesn't make financial sense because it’s a dying industry, and doesn't make environmental sense because such investments are fuelling global warming,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said. “Divestment is a huge...

The review of Child, Youth, and Family’s (CYFS) involvement and investigations into the Roastbusters case has raised further questions about whether New Zealanders can trust those meant to protect our vulnerable members of society, the Green Party said today. “New Zealanders should be able to go to the police and to CYFS and trust that their complaints will be taken seriously. That is the foundation of a safe society, ” said Green Party Women’s spokesperson Jan Logie. “It’s pleasing to...

Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-liga cannot continue in the role after he failed to answer basic questions about teens in prison today and dismissed a senior Corrections officer’s statements about prison understaffing as “her opinion”, the Green Party says.

Parliament will get the opportunity to make the Treaty of Waitangi a stronger part of our nation’s laws with a Members’ Bill drawn today, the Green Party said today. “This is a real opportunity to stop any more unfair confiscations of what is left of whenua Māori,” Green Party Te Tiriti o Waitangi spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said. The Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill was drawn from the ballot at Parliament today as a Members’...

The Green parties of New Zealand and Australia have lodged a submission with the Australian Human Rights Commission asking it to establish an inquiry into the treatment of New Zealand citizens who are detained in immigration detention centres. Green Party human rights spokesperson Marama Davidson has written to the Commission on behalf of the New Zealand and Australian Green Parties, saying people from both countries were deeply concerned about the human rights abuses occurring in Australian facilities and the impact...

The Green Party is demanding that Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-Iiga stop the lockdown of teenagers for 23 hours a day in Mt Eden Prison and clarify what Corrections has done about the practice since first alerted to it more than a year ago. “The latest Ombudsman’s inspection shows young people on remand were being locked in their cells 23 hours a day at Mt Eden – that is akin to torture,” said Green Party Corrections spokesperson David Clendon. ““It is...