The National Government’s research and development (R&D) strategy has failed, with no growth in the proportion of businesses investing in R&D since its first year in office, the Green Party said today. The Statistics NZ Business Operations Survey, released on 20 March 2015, shows that in 2009 eight percent of businesses invested in R&D and that in 2014, the proportion of businesses investing in R&D was still just eight percent. “Steven Joyce’s R&D experiment has clearly failed, with just eight...

National appears to be giving foreign corporations extra rights to sue governments if they legislate to act in the national interest, says the Green Party. New documents, leaked today, show that under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), the investor state section under negotiation appears to go further than similar clauses in existing trade documents. “National is governing in the interest of foreign companies at the expense of local interests,” said Green Party trade spokesperson James Shaw. “The Prime Minister needs...

The Government must rule out selling state homes for private developers to profit from, the Green Party said today. “The Government looks set to sell off these assets to property developers, and then pay the same developers to house low income tenants through the Income Related Rent Subsidy. It’s a perverse money-go-round in which only the developers win,” Green Party housing spokesperson Kevin Hague said. “New Zealand has built up a valuable stock of state houses that meets a need...

The Government’s grand state house sell-off will pit the welfare of the most vulnerable Kiwis against the profit motives of big business, as good community organisations refuse to have a bar of the extreme housing reforms, the Green Party says. The Salvation Army has announced they will not participate in the buy-up of state houses, despite being one of the organisations championed by the Government as a possible purchaser since they announced the scheme. “The Sallies have clearly recognised this...

New Zealand’s spy agencies are once again being used to further the personal ambitions of Cabinet Ministers, the Green Party said today.

  The Government’s hands-off approach to childhood obesity is out of step with the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor who, in another role, recommends a ban on the marketing of junk food to kids, a ban on junk food at schools, and has given the thumbs up to a tax on fizzy drinks, the Green Party says. The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, is also Co-chair of the World Health Authority’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, which...

The Green Party is calling on the Minister of Police to immediately establish an independent taskforce to implement and enforce changes in police culture in the wake of a damming report from the Independent Police Complaints Authority’s (IPCA) into the so called Roastbusters gang.

The Green Party is calling on the New Zealand Super Fund to divest their $140 million investment in coal companies that are vulnerable to becoming financially stranded according to a damning new report from Oxford University. The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University has identified the world’s least efficient and most polluting ‘subcritical’ coal-fired power stations – assets vulnerable to becoming ‘stranded’. The Super Fund has $140 million invested in companies identified in the report. “The...

John Key and the National Government showed their true colours today, voting against a Bill to feed hungry kids in New Zealand schools, the Green Party said.

The Green Party welcome today’s announcement by Fonterra of a 45 cent per kg milk solids increase in the premium for certified organic milk. “Fonterra’s approach to organics has been inconsistent, cutting premiums in the past for organic farmers in several regions,” said Green Party organics spokesperson Steffan Browning. “During a time of difficult dairy prices, organics is a good direction for farmers to take and Fonterra needs to commit long-term to New Zealand organic production, and assure New Zealand...