The National Government is suffocating Auckland’s transport development by holding back its funding for the vital City Rail Link, said the Green Party today. Auckland Council voted today to delay the main works on the City Rail Link to 2018 because the National Government won’t commit funding before 2020. This comes in spite of record patronage growth this year, which places Auckland trains on track to hit 20 million users annually by 2018. “The current rail system is being pushed...

National has announced 15 new drilling permits today that include permits in the Maui’s Marine Mammal Sanctuary, Victoria Forest Park, other ecologically protected areas and the deepest well ever permitted in New Zealand.  It appears that they have granted a permit that would allow oil drilling in deeper water than ever before anywhere in the world.

The Sustainability Council has obtained figures previously redacted from a Treasury climate briefing which shows that the cost of failing to take action to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions is between $3 billion and $52 billion from 2021 to 2030. The Treasury report identifies the cost of buying credits to cover a target of a 5 percent reduction below 1990 levels for the 2021-2030 period at a price of between $10 and $165 a tonne.

The Green Party has asked the Auditor General to investigate serious conflicts of interest over Food and Grocery Chief Katherine Rich’s membership on the board of the Health Promotion Agency (the Agency). “I’ve asked the Auditor General to investigate because the Health Minister won’t,” Green Party health spokesman Kevin Hague said today. “Health Minster Jonathan Coleman’s complacency is alarming. “The Health Minister told me this week he is unconcerned about revelations Ms Rich has participated in meetings of the Agency...

The National Government is delaying Auckland’s rail development, while pushing ahead with the expensive Puhoi to Wellsford motorway, a motorway with declining traffic volumes, benefiting fewer people and business, said the Green Party today. Yesterday, Mayor Len Brown proposed to push back the start date of the City Rail Link due to a lack of funding certainty. The National Government has said it will not commit funding before 2020, despite huge growth on the rail network. “The Government has got...

“The National Government has gone cold on climate action after New Zealand experiences hottest June on Record and the world heads for the hottest year on record, the Green Party said today.

The constant drive to cut costs by diverting work to workers from other countries leaves New Zealand workers increasingly vulnerable, Green Party industrial relations spokesperson Denise Roche said today. Sealord confirmed it will cut 70 factory jobs, 11 office-based jobs and another 30 contract workers at its Nelson wetfish factory. A significant number of the company's onshore jobs in Nelson could end up being carried out by Russians on Sealord's Ukrainian flagged vessels. "The loss of another 111 jobs from...

The decline in dairy commodity prices should be a call to action for the Government to massively step up its investment in research and development (R&D), the Green Party said today. The key dairy commodity, whole milk powder, plunged further, putting pressure on Fonterra to reduce its forecast milk pay out to farmers. Whole milk powder fell by 7.1 percent overnight following a 5 percent drop a fortnight ago. A pay out to farmers below $5 per kilo of milk...

The Green Party is criticising the Police’s decision to not investigate evidence of criminal activity detailed in the book Dirty Politics.

The weakness of National’s one product to one market economic strategy was highlighted today with falling dairy prices hurting the terms of trade this quarter, the Green Party said. The merchandise (goods) terms of trade fell 4.4 percent in the September 2014 quarter, due to export prices falling more than import prices, led by the decline in international dairy prices. Seasonally adjusted dairy values fell 8.9 percent after an 8.6 percent fall in the June 2014 quarter. “Falling dairy prices...