Paula Bennett and her Government colleagues’ continual denial that there’s a housing crisis is the number one impediment to solving our country’s housing issues, the Green Party said today. Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei will today hold the Minister for Social Housing to account at Question Time for her part in the worsening affordable and social housing emergency. “As long as Paula Bennett, John Key and Bill English keep saying there’s no housing crisis, we’re not going to see enough...

New analysis by the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) shows the National Government needs to invest massively in the health sector in the upcoming Budget, just to maintain services at current levels, the Green Party said today. The CTU and Association of Salaried Medical Specialists prepared a pre-Budget analysis showing that Vote Health’s operational expenses would need to rise by nearly $700 million to maintain the health services New Zealand currently has. Their analysis takes into account growing costs, and...

Maggie Barry must stop fudging the figures and come clean about Department of Conservation under-funding, the Green Party said today. Figures compiled by the Parliamentary Library and revealed by the Green Party on Q and A yesterday show that funding for DOC has fallen since National has been in government, adding up to $336 million over eight years. “Maggie Barry disputes our figures and says that baseline funding has risen $62 million over eight years, but it’s not clear where...

Ongoing protests against Australian mining company Newcrest on Mt Karangahake show why minerals exploration should be publicly notified and companies need to listen to community concerns before they start mining, the Green Party said. “Exploratory mining activities should go through a public notification process before they’re consented, to give communities an opportunity to have their voices heard,” Green Party Coromandel-based MP Catherine Delahunty said. “Hauraki District Council has failed its community by shutting people out of the resource consent process...

New information released today shows the National Government’s erosion of Department of Conservation (DOC) funding has resulted in a major species decline and is placing significant strain on facilities, the Green Party says.

It’s time for the National Government to step up and do the right thing to reduce climate pollution as data shows New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are higher than ever, the Green Party said today. The Greenhouse Gas inventory released by the Ministry for the Environment shows that New Zealand’s emissions have risen 23 percent since 1990, when the Government should be focussing on reducing emissions. “After eight years in government and lots of talk about reducing climate pollution, National...

Ploughing more money into the failed charter school programme is a mistake, the Green Party said today. The Government today announced funding in the 2016 Budget for seven more charter schools to open in 2017 and 2018, and for a new organisation to support charter school sponsors. “It defies belief that the Government would plough ahead with more charter schools when the programme has been so plagued by problems,” Green Party education spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said today. “No one from...

The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop extracting a multimillion-dollar dividend from Housing New Zealand in the name of “discipline”, while the country is in the grips of a housing emergency. “We have people sleeping in cars, in garages and on the streets, and all Bill English cares about is teaching Housing New Zealand a lesson or two,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. “Making Housing New Zealand hand over its dividend while thousands of people don’t...

The Green Party today announced a plan to build hundreds of new state homes to help house New Zealanders who are living in cars, garages or on the streets. The Homes Not Cars policy allows Housing New Zealand to retain its dividend and, in addition, would refund its tax, freeing up $207 million in the next financial year to spend on the emergency building of around 450 new state houses. “We have a housing emergency in this country, happening right...

The Government must take strong action to clamp down on fishers who dump fish illegally and threaten our fish stocks, the Green Party said today. Leaked reports show that the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) was aware that illegal fish dumping has been rife in the industry, with between 20 to 100 percent of some quota fish being dumped with every catch. “MPI is either running scared of the fishing industry or happy to look the other way on illegal...