The National Government must honour the Paris climate agreement by setting a deadline for including agriculture as part of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Now is not the time to gamble on “silver bullet” solutions, the Green Party said today. “It has been less than a week since the world signed the historic Paris climate agreement and already the National Government has reverted to its polluting stereotype. We saw Government hock off more of New Zealand’s oceans for oil drilling...

“New Zealanders should be appalled by revelations today that the National Government is denying us deep sea marine reserves so it can promote oil exploration,” Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said today.   According to reports by TVNZ, the Minister for the Environment has had to drop planned law changes which could have protected marine life in New Zealand’s deep oceans (known as the Exclusive Economic Zone). “National is saying that all of our deep oceans outside of 12...

The Government must rule out opening any more charter schools, as the first of the experimental schools has just been told it is closing, the Green Party said today. The Minister of Education Hekia Parata has today given Whangaruru School in Northland a month to respond to her decision to close the school. A further 26 charter schools have applied to open in 2017. “The experience of the children who were experimented on in Northland should never be allowed to...

The National Government has today awarded nine new oil and gas exploration permits, in the latest demonstration it has absolutely no intention of living up to the Paris agreement to halt climate change, the Green Party says. “National couldn’t even wait a week after world leaders agreed on a plan to stop climate change before giving out new permits for foreign companies to drill for fossil fuels in New Zealand waters,” Green Party energy spokesperson Gareth Hughes said. “Today’s oil and...

Green Party MP Gareth Hughes made a final plea this morning to Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) to not replace Wellington’s iconic, pollution free trolley bus system with dirty diesel buses. Gareth Hughes spoke with GWRC councillors ahead of their vote today on Wellington’s public transport strategy. The strategy includes a decision about whether to replace Wellington’s 60 electric trolley buses with diesels. Last year GWRC decided to remove 60 trolley buses from the fleet by 2017. “Last year councillors...

Minister of Justice Amy Adams should not extradite a New Zealand resident to China because she can’t rely on that Government’s assurances that it will not subject him to torture or the death penalty, the Green Party says.

National’s obsession with its nanosecond surplus has ended up being a lose-lose for New Zealand because it came at the price of fewer jobs and more pollution, the Green Party says. The Government’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update today forecast a $401 million government deficit, GDP growth slowing to 2.1%, and unemployment rising to 6.5%. This is a step backward from the Budget 2015 forecasts of a surplus, 3.2% GDP growth, and 5.1% unemployment. “National should have focused on...

The West Coast region needs central government leadership to help it thrive in a post-coal world, not another road, the Green Party said today. Buller’s mayor has proposed building a new road through Kahurangi National Park to boost the region’s economic fortunes as the coal industry declines. “The Government must take responsibility for developing a just transition strategy away from coal for the West Coast’s economy rather than adopt an 1880s-style plan to bulldoze a new road through a treasured...

The Commerce Commission’s decision to raise the price of broadband internet will hit consumers in the pocket and is the legacy of National’s failed meddling in the Telecommunications Act in 2010, the Green Party said today. “Families and small businesses will suffer higher prices from this decision, while Chorus – the company that owns the old nationwide copper broadband network – and its private investors will cash in,” Green Party ICT spokesperson Gareth Hughes said. “New Zealand already has high...

The Government’s refusal to end child poverty is putting children lives at risk as a report reveals the rate that children are dying from conditions associated with poverty has skyrocketed in the past few years, the Green Party says. The Children’s Commissioner’s Child Poverty Monitor, out this morning, shows an additional 45,000 Kiwi kids have been forced into poverty in the past year alone, and that illness and death caused by poverty is on the rise particularly among Pacifika children.....