The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to stand Sam Lotu-Iiga down as Corrections Minister over his continued mishandling of the SERCO debacle.

The Treasury has told Finance Minister Bill English that the current regulatory uncertainty around climate is hurting business, the Green Party said today. New information released to the Green Party shows that Treasury recommended as far back as October 2014 that the National Government work to secure a greater degree of political party consensus about climate change saying that “this would assist firms and individuals to better factor climate change into their long-term decision making”. “John Key understands the importance...

New information shows that the Department of Corrections let SERCO off the hook for fines that were issued for basic failures in its management of the Mt Eden Correctional Facility, the Green Party said today.

The Green Party has called for the Government to act on workplace domestic violence issues by picking up a Bill the Greens’ Women’s Issues spokesperson Jan Logie has in the Member’s Bill ballot. The Greens’ call follows The Warehouse Group’s  announcement today that it is developing a comprehensive human resources policy around domestic violence. “I congratulate The Warehouse Group for taking this initiative to support those of its staff whose lives are devastated by domestic violence”, said Ms Logie. “They...

John Key and Murray McCully’s hands-off approach to human rights atrocities in West Papua is in stark contrast to the actions taken by previous New Zealand governments on similar abuses by Indonesia in East Timor, the Green Party said today. While at the Pacific Islands Forum, John Key and Murray McCully have ruled out supporting a fact-finding mission in West Papua, despite evidence from groups such as Human Rights Watch that horrific abuses are happening there. “Over the years, the...

The Government’s ideological refusal to properly address the demand side factors is driving the unsustainable Auckland housing market into ‘dangerous territory’ and creating major risks for the economy, the Green Party said. “The Government must tackle the demand side factors driving unsustainable house price inflation – like rampant property speculation – with measures like a proper capital gains tax and restrictions on overseas property investors, but is choosing not to,” Green Party finance spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said. “When the...

The Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy was wrong to ever assert that everything was fine and dandy with the mining and export of ancient swamp kauri, the Green Party said today. The Office of the Auditor General has today released a response to a “Request for inquiry into the regulation of the ancient swamp kauri industry”. “The Auditor General found that the Ministry of Primary Industry’s regulation of swamp kauri milling and exports had shortcomings,” said Green Party forestry...

The Conservation Minister is negligent for allowing the Government to propose opening up more of the Maui’s dolphin sanctuary to oil and gas exploration, the Green Party said today. "If National was serious about protecting the critically endangered Maui's dolphins it wouldn't be proposing more oil and gas exploration in the part of the ocean where they live,” said Green Party conservation spokesperson Kevin Hague. Maui’s dolphin sightings from the Department of Conservation’s database mapped onto the area the Government...

Sam Lotu-Iiga has been withholding the extent of SERCO’s failures from the public with more revelations of breaches by the private prison, the Green Party said today.

The Green Party is calling for reform of the Reserve Bank’s governance structure following today’s Official Cash Rate decision which reverses the mistaken OCR rises of 2014. The Reserve Bank Governor has today unwound 75 of the 100 basis points that he increased the OCR by just last year. “The Reserve Bank made the right decision today to cut the OCR – effectively reversing the mistaken OCR increases in 2014 – but concentrating this power in just one person isn’t...