New analysis of the financial statements of Genesis, Mighty River Power, and Meridian released by the Green Party today shows that National’s partial privatisation of power companies has cost New Zealand taxpayers $871 million, the Green Party said. “The latest data shows that National’s sale of 49 percent of shares in the power companies was a massive transfer of wealth from the people of New Zealand to a few select investors, many who live overseas,” Green Party energy spokesperson Gareth...

Housing Minister Nick Smith should revoke the approval for parts of a new Special Housing Area in Auckland which some local iwi say is unacceptably close to waahi tapu, the Green Party said. “Auckland Council have given the go ahead for houses to be built despite serious local concerns about the land being close to waahi tapu,” Green Party Co-Leader Metiria Tūrei said today. “This land is not critical to Auckland’s housing needs, and has significant cultural heritage value. “The...

Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-Iiga needs to follow the lead of overseas authorities and get rid of SERCO for serious and continued breaches in their management of Mt Eden Correctional Facility, said the Green Party today

Landcorp’s decision to review its conversion of forestry land to dairy farms in the upper Waikato is a cause for celebration, the Green Party said today. “We’ve been calling for a moratorium on Landcorp’s dairy conversions in the upper Waikato in order to stop the further degradation of the Waikato River and its catchment,” said Green Party water spokesperson Catherine Delahunty. “We hope that, in order to protect the Waikato River from the pollution that would be created by these...

The Green Party is questioning why Corrections refuses to issue SERCO with a final warning over its mismanagement of the Mt Eden Correctional Facility, despite the month long review being extended due to the volume of issues found.

The Green Party is calling for Landcorp to change direction and consider other pastoral uses for Wairakei Estate now that it has been revealed it is not locked into dairy farming the upper Waikato.  Landcorp chief executive Steve Carden told The Dominion Post that the contract Landcorp, a state-owned enterprise, signed with landowners Wairakei Pastoral in 2004 is to convert 26,000ha of the pine forest to “pastoral use”, which could include cropping, beef, sheep, horticulture and forestry. “Landcorp’s financial results,...

Changes to improve workplace health and safety law will be a priority for the Green Party when it is in Government, the Party’s Workplace Relations and Safety Spokesperson, Denise Roche, said today. The Government’s widely criticised Health and Safety Reform Bill is set to pass its final stage in Parliament this afternoon. “With the Government having voted down Green and Labour amendments to improve the Bill earlier this week, we are going to see a deeply flawed law coming onto...

Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei is launching her Residential Tenancies (Warm, Safe and Secure Rentals) Amendment Bill today, which will instigate a warrant of fitness for all rental homes, and encourage longer, more secure tenancies. “The million-odd New Zealanders who rent the homes they live in will greatly benefit from this Bill,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. “Renting is a fact of life for more than a third of all Kiwi households, yet they have so far been largely...

The Green Party will today vote against David Seymour’s Rugby World Cup booze Bill after National and Act went back on their word to improve the Bill, and problems with special licences proved to be exaggerated at best. “We would have absolutely supported a Bill that allowed Kiwis to watch the rugby at bars during key World Cup games, as long as all of the appropriate safety and anti-harm measures were also included,” said Green Party health spokesperson Kevin Hague....

The Green Party is calling on the Government to embrace new ideas to steer New Zealand away from global economic turmoil following stock market crises in China and the USA, or else risk repeating the mistakes it made in 2009-10. “The Government’s response to the last financial crisis was to borrow billions of dollars and spend it on tax cuts for the rich and motorways with dubious business cases,’ Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said. “Six years and billions of...