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IRD contract set to benefit US economy not NZ
Profits from work reshaping the IRD’s IT systems will flow offshore given the IRD has chosen an United States based firm for a potentially billion dollar plus contract to design and supply software, the Green Party said today. American firm Fast Enterprises has won the contract to design and supply the software platform that will run New Zealand’s new tax and social policy administration system. Cabinet has approved $193 million for the project but that is expected to grow to up...
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FTA privilege should be not extend to torturers
The Government should not extend the privilege of a free trade agreement (FTA) to Saudi Arabia given its highest court has reinforced the penalty of torture for exercising free speech, the Green Party said today.
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Govt should give non-recoverable grants to families struggling to pay their power bills
The Green Party is calling on the Government to make non-recoverable grants to families struggling with power bills this winter, to help prevent more children becoming sick from cold, damp homes. This week coroner Brandt Shortland ruled that a cold, damp Housing New Zealand home may have contributed to the death of Otara toddler Emma-Lita Bourne. The family had been given a heater to warm it but could not afford the electricity to turn it on. "No New Zealand child should...
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Dalziel’s budget plan still sells Christchurch assets
Lianne Dalziel’s budget plan, announced today, will see Christchurch’s profitable assets sold in three years, said the Green Party.
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Negligent Govt must fix the 20,000 state houses that remain uninsulated
The Green Party is calling for the Government to immediately insulate and fix the 30 percent of state homes that it has neglected to insulate so far, despite promising to do so. “Every New Zealand child deserves to live in a warm, healthy home. We cannot have another case like Emma-Lita Bourne – it’s an absolute disgrace that this is happening in 21st century New Zealand,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. “We know this Government has been a negligent...
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Dunedin flooding highlights costs of Govt’s inaction on climate
Local governments throughout New Zealand will have to pick up the ongoing cost of National’s inaction on climate change, the Green Party said today. “The flooding in Dunedin highlights that the National Government needs to stop being the problem and start being part of the solution on climate change,” Green Party local government spokesperson Eugenie Sage said. “Since National came to power in 2008, New Zealand’s net emissions have increased by 13 percent; the scientific consensus is that increasing emissions...
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Toddler’s death shows Govt must urgently introduce housing WoF
The Government must introduce a Warrant of Fitness for all houses in New Zealand, starting with state houses, following the release of a coroner’s report which linked the death of an Auckland toddler to the living conditions in her family’s Housing New Zealand home, the Green Party said today. “A Housing Warrant of Fitness needs to be urgently introduced by the Government. This young girl’s tragic death shows what can happen if we continue to do nothing about the cold,...
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Key proved wrong on cost of climate action
The Government’s own economic modelling has proved John Key wrong about the cost of reducing New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Party said today following an exchange between the Prime Minister and new Green Party Co-leader James Shaw in Parliament. “It would only cost one tenth of one percent of GDP growth annually to reduce New Zealand’s emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, compared to doing nothing, according to the Government’s own economic modelling,” Green Party Co-leader...
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PM needs to stand down McCully and investigate
The Prime Minister needs to stand down Murray McCully and investigate the Saudi sheep deal following new contradictory claims by Murray McCully, the Green Party said today.
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Govt must stop demanding schools report on National Standards
The Education Minister must stop demanding schools report on National Standards and immediately stop collecting data for league tables following evidence that the standards are completely unreliable, the Green Party says. The Ministry of Education’s latest review of National Standards results today found that the basis of National Standards reporting – the Overall Teacher Judgments (OTJ) made about the level children were performing at – ‘‘strongly suggest the OTJ’s lack dependability,” and it found that less than half of National...