Paula Bennett’s first act as incoming Climate Change Minister has been to reject pleas from the Pacific Islands for New Zealand to back a 1.5 degree limit to global warming that could give them the chance of survival, the Green Party has said. Minister Bennett refused to give New Zealand’s support to an explicit goal in the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to a 1.5 degree increase, despite growing support from allies including Australia, Canada and Pacific nations...

The Green Party hopes the departure of Tim Groser as Minister for Climate Change puts to bed an era of hot air and spin from the Government in dealing with New Zealand’s runaway climate pollution.   “The Prime Minister announced today that Tim Groser will be replaced as Minister for Climate Change Issues by Paula Bennett. During Groser’s time as Minister, greenhouse gas emissions actually increased by 10 percent. This put New Zealand in the embarrassing position of fifth highest increaser...

The Government’s waste strategy is not working, but could be easily improved by introducing a ‘cash for containers system’ that would incentivise recycling and pay consumers 10 cents a bottle, the Green Party said today. A report by Envision NZ shows that less than 40 per cent of beverage containers are recycled on a voluntary basis. Drink containers make up more than 45,000 tonnes of rubbish in our landfills, litter stream and waterways every year. “The Government is sitting on...

Resolving state care compensation cases in a just and prompt manner should be a priority for the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), the Green Party said today. It has been revealed today that MSD has withheld people’s personal information that they need to help resolve historical abuse compensation cases. “Not only is MSD denying personal information to people abused in state care which they are legally entitled to, it is also making unfair low-ball offers of compensation. We understand people...

  An Australian Immigration Service form, released this morning by the Green Party’s lawyer Greg Barns, shows that John Key misled New Zealanders about the ability of Kiwi detainees to apply for Australian citizenship from New Zealand. Mr Barns drafted a claim to the Australian Human Rights Commission on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Green parties regarding New Zealanders placed in offshore detention centres. The form shows that if New Zealanders return here from a detention centre their...

Judith Collins must clean up the Serco mess she started almost five years ago to the day if reports of her re-appointment as Corrections Minister are confirmed, the Green Party says.

The National Government is threatening to scupper a fair climate deal in Paris by failing to back a call by Australia and other Pacific nations to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, the Green Party said today. Australia joined forces with Pacific Island nations over the weekend to call on world leaders to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees, however, Climate Change Minister Tim Groser has refused to support Pacific allies and join the call for a more ambitious...

The Green Party is calling for a comprehensive review into what involvement, if any, Cabinet Ministers had in the decision to allow a Malaysian diplomat, who had been charged with serious sexual offences, to leave New Zealand before his trial. The official inquiry into the events, the full results of which are still secret, left out Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and Police Minister Anne Tolley and only scrutinised processes and actions by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs...

New Zealand needs to push for a much stronger final agreement in the last week of climate talks in Paris, the Green Party said today. Overnight (NZ time), negotiators submitted a “Draft Paris Agreement”, which ministers will work with from Monday to try and reach a final deal by Friday’s deadline. “It’s exciting that we’ve reached this point, but the text is still riddled with unresolved issues, and a huge divide remains between developed and developing countries in terms of who should do what,” said...

Plans to expand the Waihi goldmine even further into the Waihi community shows the urgent need for the Government to support a new Green Party bill that protects communities from the destruction and damage of mining, the Green Party said today. OceaniaGold will be expanding their explorations underneath Waihi and already have the resource consents to do so according to reports yesterday. “People affected by the extension of mining in Waihi shouldn’t have their rights to live peacefully in their own homes...