The Green Party supports Helen Clark’s bid for Secretary General of the United Nations.

The Government must stop allowing the foreign trust industry to operate in secret here to prevent New Zealand becoming a tax haven for criminals, the Green Party said today. New Zealand foreign trusts have again been implicated in money laundering, tax avoidance, and criminal activity following a massive document leak from a Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents reportedly show that New Zealand is being used by overseas investors to keep tax secrets. “New Zealand is today being described...

“John Key’s got it wrong. The whole point of our policy is to strengthen Kiwibank to be a better commercial bank, not weaken it by encouraging non-commercial behaviour,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said. “John Key is being deliberately alarmist and making things up because he doesn’t have his own plan for improving banking for Kiwis. “The evidence from Kiwibank’s first few years shows how wrong John Key is. Back then, capital injections and lower dividends helped Kiwibank compete commercially...

John Key has many questions to answer at his post cabinet meeting today, after refusing this morning to provide key information to back up his claims about ‘jihadi brides”, the Green Party said today.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman needs to listen to the growing chorus of health experts who are calling for immediate action on obesity-related disease, the Green Party said today. Seventy leading public health specialists have asked the Government to implement a tax on sugary drinks to tackle New Zealand's high rates of childhood obesity – amongst the highest in the world according to a recent Lancet report.     “The Government has it wrong when it comes to fighting childhood obesity...

The Green Party will strengthen Kiwibank so that it can compete with the big four foreign owned banks leading to better interest rates, the Green Party said today. To achieve better bank interest rates, the Green Party will: Inject a further $100 million of capital in Kiwibank to speed its expansion into commercial banking; Allow Kiwibank to keep more of its profits to help it grow faster; and, Give Kiwibank a clear public purpose to lead the market in passing...

The Green Party can reveal that John Key has known since May 2015 that no women left New Zealand to go to the Middle East as so called “jihadi brides”, making the damage he inflicted on Islamic women even more calculating. The Prime Minster has confirmed to the Green Party that he knew on May 25 -- six months prior to first introducing the notion of Kiwi Jihadi brides at a December select committee hearing last year -- that no...

About half of all beneficiary families with children will be disappointed to learn today they will not get the full $25 benefit increase that the National Government has led them to believe they will, the Green Party says. The Government’s $25 a week benefit increase for parents is due to kick in today, along with a new obligation for parents of 3 year olds to seek work. “Despite all its grandstanding about the historic benefit increase, the Government has designed it...

The Green Party is calling on electricity lines companies like Unison to join the 21st century and adapt to work with solar energy, instead of raising charges on households with solar panels. Unison controls the electricity lines network in the central North Island and is introducing an extra charge on customers with solar panels of up to 26 percent, effective today for new customers and to be phased in for existing solar customers. “This solar penalty looks like an uncompetitive...

The Green Party is introducing a members’ bill today that will reduce environmental degradation as a result of dairy intensification by requiring all cows to wear nappies. “There are too many cows making too much waste for our environment to handle. Cow nappies are a simple way to keep that waste off the land and out of our waterways,” said Green Party co-leader James Shaw. “Cow number 1s and 2s are responsible for degradation of our waterways through run-off and...