The New Zealand Government needs to back up its parliamentary support of media freedom in West Papua with action, the Green Party said today. A motion tabled by the Green Party, in July 2014, to call on the Indonesian President to commit to genuine press freedom in West Papua was supported by all members of Parliament including the Government. Shortly after the tabling of the Green Party’s motion two French journalists, Thomas Dandois and Valentine Burrat, were arrested in West...

The UN Climate Summit in New York on Tuesday is the final, final chance for John Key to demonstrate New Zealand’s commitment to help secure a safe, stable future for our children, the Green Party said today. The one-day summit, convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is intended to give countries the opportunity to declare their contribution to the global effort of emissions reduction before negotiations resume for the legal agreement to be reached by late 2015. “New Zealand has lagged...

The Green Party is heading into a new parliamentary term promising to ramp up efforts to defend both the environment and workers from National plans to ram through changes that will attack both, Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said today. National has signalled it will attempt to get planned changes to the Resource Management Act and the Employment Relations Act passed as quickly as possible, in order to please its big business backers. “The environment and workers’ rights are seriously...

Expanded civics and citizenship education is urgently needed to turn around the low voter turnout in New Zealand, the Green Party said today. The Electoral Commission has estimated voter turnout for the 2014 election at 77.04 percent of those enrolled to vote. This does not include those who were not even enrolled, despite being eligible, with enrolment figures for this election at 91.7 percent of the voting age population, down from 93.4 percent at the last election. "It's not ok...

The Green Party is needed in Government to clean up politics after repeated abuses of power by National, the Green Party said today. A former high-ranking Customs lawyer, Curtis Gregorash, says he was told to bury information that could embarrass the Government. The Chief Ombudsman, Dame Beverley Wakem, will include this allegation and other concerns in a wide-ranging inquiry she will hold after the election. This inquiry will look at suppression of information in breach of the Official Information Act...

Recent analysis of trends in inequality over the last 20 years by a tax consultant gives a misleading impression of the reality of inequality and poverty in New Zealand, the Green Party says. Peter Sherwin, Partner, Privately Held Business at Grant Thornton New Zealand, has looked at Ministry of Social Development data and says there is no evidence of a growing divide in New Zealand over the last 20 years. “What Mr Sherwin didn't point out was that in the six...

National is overseeing massive dairy conversions in the Waikato that are likely to undermine the $210 million taxpayer funded clean-up of the Waikato River, the Green Party has revealed today. State-owned enterprise Landcorp is converting more than 25,700 hectares of pine forest in the Upper Waikato to dairy. Once completed, the catchment will be home to 30,000 more dairy cows. “This is another example of National’s ‘break it then use taxpayers’ money to fix it’ approach to rivers,” said Green...

Some of the world’s best economists have today reaffirmed the urgency and the benefits of shifting to a low carbon, high innovation economy, the Green Party said. A new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate has found that investments to help fight climate change can also drive economic development and jobs, but time is running out for the massive shift needed to secure a stable climate. The report has been timed to inform discussions at the...

The Green Party will stop National's campaign of punishing tertiary students and do more than any other party to support young Kiwis into study, Green Party students spokesperson Gareth Hughes said today. Mr Hughes was responding to a New Zealand University Students Association survey of 5000 students, published today, showing nearly half of all fulltime students were in significant financial distress and 44 % reported not having enough to meet their needs. "Encouraging more young New Zealanders into higher levels...

The Green Party today announced its final social policy, before the election, aimed at ensuring that every child thrives from the day they are born. To complement the range of initiatives already announced, the Green Party will provide every newborn baby with a welcome package that includes some of the essentials needed by every baby from the day they are born. The key policy points of the package are: Provide every newborn child with a Wahakura Welcome Pack consisting of...