News

  • Greens call for ring-fencing of state home proceeds

    The Government must ring-fence the proceeds of any state home sales and spend every dollar raised on more Government-built homes in order to address the housing crisis, the Green Party says. Prime Minister John Key has indicated that his first major speech of the year will deal with housing, after Ministers last year admitted huge numbers of state homes could be on the block and aspects of state housing transferred to charities. “John Key will never be able to house...
  • National fails to produce evidence justifying attack on RMA

    The National Government is misusing evidence provided in the Motu report on planning rules to justify gutting the environmental protections secured by the Resource Management Act (RMA), says the Green Party today. The Motu group’s research into the impacts of planning rules looked at the costs related to housing development but not the benefits of environmental protections and does not recommend significant changes to the RMA to reduce the cost of new house builds. “Environment Minister Nick Smith is misusing...
  • RMA changes won't build more homes

    The National Government must stop using the Resource Management Act as the straw manfor its own failure to build more homes and put an end to the country’s housing crisis, the Green Party says. Today, Environment Minister Nick Smith announced the first tranche of plans to weaken the RMA saying that it was ‘crucial’ to addressing housing supply and affordability. However, property developers and planners today said the Act isn’t standing in their way. “Changing the RMA won’t build a...
  • Chief Archivist to investigate Prime Minister

    The Green Party welcomes the decision by the Chief Archivist to investigate their complaint into the Prime Minister’s practice of deleting official text messages. On 28 November 2014, the Green Party asked the Chief Archivist to look into John Key’s admission that he does not keep text messages that came to him from Cameron Slater or anyone else. The Archivist has confirmed she’ll look into the Prime Minister’s record keeping practices and whether there was a breach of the Public...
  • It’s not too late – cancel the Pokies for Convention Centre deal

    John Key should pull the plug on his SkyCity Convention Centre deal as the costs of it blow out and Ministers now suggest Auckland Council could pick up the running tab, the Green Party says. Economic Development Minster Steven Joyce this morning said one option for funding the cost blow-out of the SkyCity Convention Centre was to ask Auckland ratepayers to fund its operating costs. “The wheels have fallen off the Government’s pet project. It’s a financial flop,” Green Party...
  • Government must rule out using public funds on SkyCity Centre

    The Government must rule out asking the taxpayer to cover any additional costs in the building of the SkyCity Convention Centre, the Green Party said today. SkyCity today applied for resource consent for the International Convention Centre, which it had agreed to build in exchange for law changes that will allow it to massively increase opportunities to gamble at its casino. Reports suggest the cost may have increased by between $70 and $130 million on top of the $402 million...
  • Govt spend on transport out of step with reality

    The National Government is planning to allocate ever increasing amounts of taxpayer funding to build expensive new motorways despite record numbers of New Zealanders flocking to buses and trains, said the Green Party. The Government released its Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2015/16-2024/25 (GPS) today. This statement sets the parameters for a $39 billion investment in New Zealand’s transport networks over the next ten years. “The National Government is investing over $33 billion in roads over the next ten...