The National Government is removing critical frontline support for families who are struggling, the Green Party said today.

Emerging disagreements with councils about National’s new infrastructure loans policy shows it was rushed and poorly thought through, the Green Party said today. “National’s infrastructure loans idea is less than two days old and already the wheels are falling off,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “This is a housing policy which doesn’t actually create any new houses, from a Government that’s all out of good ideas. “Yesterday John Key announced his new policy, and today Auckland’s mayor is already...

National’s loan to help councils deal with the housing crisis is a step in the right direction, but risks failing if it doesn’t build affordable homes for first home buyers, the Green Party said today. “John Key made no mention of building affordable houses with this loan, meaning any new houses could remain out of reach of first-home buyers,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “The market typically builds bigger houses that target high-income earners, so the Government needs to...

John Key needs to stand down Foreign Affairs Minister Murry McCully following an admission by Saudi businessman George Assaf that there was no threat of legal action over the live sheep import ban, the Green Party said today. In an interview screened on the Nation today, Saudi businessman George Assaf said his company had no “appetite or ambition” to take the New Zealand Government to court over the ban on the live sheep exports to Saudi Arabia. This contradicts claims...

A Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) report today shows the need for an urgent review into how mothers are being treated by the Ministry of Social Development, the Green Party said today. The CPAG report ‘Kathryn’s Story’ tells a heart-breaking story of one woman who has been subjected to more than 15 years of prosecution, jail, losing her children to the state, and debt repayment. There are still unclear rules around whether single mothers can claim a Sole Parent Support...

One of the rivers that Green Party MPs will visit during their Swimmable Rivers campaign later this month has been named as one of the worst sites to swim in in the Wellington Region. The Ruamāhanga river has once again scored a D rating for swimming at The Cliffs, a site south of Masterton, in the annual Greater Wellington Regional Council Recreational Swimming Report Card. “The Ruamāhanga’s story is a tragic one – it starts out pristine in the Tararua...

New building consent numbers declined further in Auckland in May, again highlighting the National Government’s failure to address the city’s housing crisis, the Green Party said today. Statistics NZ Building Consents data released today shows that the number of new building consents in Auckland has been trending downwards since November 2015. “If the National’s Government’s solution to the housing crisis in Auckland is for the private sector to build more houses, it’s not working,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw....

The Green Party is again calling on Ashburton District Council to abandon its shady plans to sell land, including a resource consent to bottle billions of litres of pristine water, in a backroom deal. A petition of 40,000 signatures is to be presented to the Council today at midday in Ashburton, asking to stop the sale, which is reportedly to a water bottling company that will pay nothing for the water they bottle and sell.   “Canterbury is in the...

Finance Minister Bill English’s suggestion that poor families in New Zealand are better off than those in other developed countries shows how disconnected he is from the reality in his own country, the Green Party said today. “Bill English’s comments show he’s in denial about what we’re actually seeing in our communities, which is food banks with empty shelves and more people begging on the streets,” Green Party social development spokesperson Jan Logie said. “When people are working hard and...

Revelations that Lifeline Aotearoa has only enough money to run for one more year are another blow to our already strained mental health system, the Green Party said today. Lifeline Aotearoa provides free 24/7 mental health assistance through phone lines 0800 Lifeline, 0508 Tautoko (specialised suicide crisis line), and 0800 Kidsline (for those aged under 18). “A strained mental health system has already been palming people off onto these 0800 numbers, and if Lifeline services go under, then New Zealanders...