Big holes in spy oversight have been revealed by the Inspector General of Security and Intelligence (IGIS) who says that the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has no internal audit mechanism, said the Green Party today.

Partially privatised energy companies are keeping electricity prices artificially high and ignoring international clean energy investment opportunities to ensure private shareholders get big pay-outs, the Green Party said today. Genesis Energy today announced a $172.8 million operating profit, up from $150.6 million, following Meridian Energy’s announcement last week that it will pay a $625 million special dividend to shareholders. “Households must be struggling to understand why their energy bills keep increasing, but the energy companies keep handing over big pay-outs...

John Key must front up to New Zealand and say what he discussed with Donghua Liu when the disgraced businessman paid $25,000 for the Prime Minister to come to dinner at his Remuera home, the Green Party said today. John Key has this week stepped up his desperate attempt to distance himself from Donghua Liu in the wake of revelations the businessman paid the National Party $25,000 to have the Prime Minister over for dinner. “John Key is pretending this...

Serious questions need to be asked about how the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (the Fund) lost $200 million of taxpayers’ money from a high risk investment in a Portuguese bank. The Fund invested US$150 million through a Goldman Sachs investment vehicle into the Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo (BES). The loan reportedly generated a return of up to 3.5 percent yet the risk was assessed by ratings agency Moody's as being “speculative and a high credit risk”. Less than a...

The discovery of a Queensland fruit fly in Grey Lynn, Auckland, this week reinforces how flimsy New Zealand’s biosecurity measures are, the Green Party said today. “The Ministry of Primary Industries is insisting that this find is not evidence of an outbreak. However, this is the fifth time a Queensland fruit fly has been discovered in New Zealand since May 2012,” said Green Party biosecurity spokesperson Steffan Browning. “If this is not an outbreak, it still begs the question how...

The partial privatisation of Meridian Energy has led to higher power prices and sent $625 million worth of bloated profits into the pockets of investors, the Green Party said today. Meridian announced today that revenue had risen 22 percent to $1.3 billion, and that it would pay out an additional special dividend of $625 million over five years. “Meridian was the largest of the power companies that National partially privatised and the Green Party always said that those strategic assets...

The Green Party welcomes a report by the Local Government and Environment Select Committee calling for the Government to review a pesticide that has been partially banned overseas and may be responsible for bee deaths. The report, which was tabled in Parliament today, is in response to a petition signed by nearly 6,600 people in 2008, calling for greater protection measures for bee health. It was driven by former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley. Among other recommendations, the report says...

This is a victory for everyone who has let the Government know that its plan to give SkyCity casino millions of dollars of taxpayers money for their building costs overruns was irresponsible

New Zealand could be a world leader in green agriculture and food production but our reputation is at risk from our increasing reliance on pesticides and unsustainable practices.

The National Government is repeating a failed strategy by committing troops to the latest phase of the on-going Iraqi conflict said the Green Party today.