Revelations that New Zealand is being marketed in Malaysia and other parts of Asia as an easy place to make a quick property buck show why we desperately need restrictions on non-resident foreign buyers in our overheated market, the Green Party said today. “These cashed-up non-resident buyers must think New Zealand and the National Government are easy marks,” said Green Party housing spokesperson Kevin Hague. “They can come here, score a bunch of properties, pay no capital gains tax and...

  The Green Party has launched a campaign to create a plastic-bag free New Zealand and is calling on the Government to legislate to phase plastic bags out.

Government suggestions that parents should “shop around” for a free doctor when their child has an accident shows how completely out of touch National is, the Green Party says.

The Government has already broken a key election promise by reneging on a pledge to make all doctors’ visits for under 13 year olds free, the Green Party says. Documents obtained by the Green Party show that the Government decided to fund only 90 percent of doctors’ visits for children suffering from an injury in an attempt trim the cost of the so-called “free” visits. “This makes a lie of the promise to provide free doctors’ visits for all children...

Any measures to stop the sale of Christchurch’s assets, including the proposed Common Sense Plan, should be carefully considered by the Christchurch City Council, the Green Party said today. “Christchurch residents have been telling us that they absolutely do not want asset sales,” said Green Party Christchurch spokesperson Eugenie Sage. “They recognise asset sales for what they really are – short-term, stop-gap thinking – and know they will do little to secure Christchurch’s long-term financial future. “There is a groundswell...

Today’s record low inflation figure of 0.1 percent for the year to March 2015, well below the Reserve Bank’s target band, gives the Bank scope to cut the Official Cash Rate later this month but it is unlikely to given National’s failure to address Auckland’s housing crisis, the Green Party said. A lower Official Cash Rate (OCR) would likely to lead to lower domestic interest rates which would lower the costs of borrowing to help businesses, exporters, and those with...

The Government must drop its early childhood attendance targets as evidence mounts that they could be doing more harm to children than good, the Green Party says. Reports today show that thousands of children might be at risk in low quality ECE services as the Government is recruiting Maori, Pacific and low income children for enrolment in order to bolster its 98 % attendance targets. “The Government is putting its targets ahead of the safety of children,” Green Party education...

Evidence that the Key Government recklessly approved a GCSB spying operation to intercept Chinese diplomatic communications between offices in Auckland will pointlessly damage our relationship with China, the Green Party said today. The latest Snowden documents detail plans by the New Zealand spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), to tap Chinese diplomatic communications between their two consular offices in Auckland. The papers don’t reveal if the operation, a joint project with the US National Security Agency (NSA), went...

Four nominees have put their hats in the ring to replace Russel Norman as Green Party male Co-leader, the party announced today. 

The Green Party whole-heartedly supports the Chief Human Rights Commissioner’s call for a cross-party accord on housing, and it’s time other political parties put their petty differences aside for the good of New Zealanders, the Green Party said today. “It’s time to stop playing politics with housing. New Zealanders want affordable, accessible, healthy housing now, and they’re looking at us, their elected politicians, to make that happen,” said Green Party housing spokesperson Kevin Hague. “As the Chief Human Rights Commissioner...