The Green Party is congratulating all Green winners in the local body elections for 2016 after hard fought campaigns, and welcomes the first Pasifika Green Party Councillor in Dunedin. In Wellington, City Councillors Sarah Free, Iona Pannett and David Lee were all re-elected, as was Wellington Regional Councillor Sue Kedgley. Lisa Bridson was re-elected to Hutt Eastern Ward & Capital and Coast DHB. Dunedin City Council’s Aaron Hawkins and Marie Laufiso were successful, as was Brent Barrett in Palmerston North....

Statistics NZ announced today that the number of households who rent is growing more than twice as fast as the number of owner-occupied households, and now comprises 32.9 percent of all households. Renting households have increased by 13,700 in the past year, while owner occupied households have only increased by 6,000. “With a third of all households renting their home, by choice or because they can’t afford to buy in the broken Auckland property market, we should update the renting...

New figures out today reveal a bleak trend for New Zealand women, with the gender pay gap continuing to grow, the Green Party said today. Figures from the Labour Market Statistics: June 2016 quarter show an increase in the gender pay gap from 11.8% to 12%. Four years ago, the gender pay gap was $9.1%. “The fact that there’s still such large imbalance in pay shows how far we have to go on getting women a fair go,” Green Party...

New figures out today reveal a bleak trend for New Zealand women, with the gender pay gap continuing to grow, the Green Party said today. Figures from the Labour Market Statistics: June 2016 quarter show an increase in the gender pay gap from 11.8% to 12%. Four years ago, the gender pay gap was $9.1%. “The fact that there’s still such large imbalance in pay shows how far we have to go on getting women a fair go,” Green Party...

Green Party MP Marama Davidson is safe and well and is expected to be deported from Israel imminently, after being detained in Tel Aviv, the Green Party said today. 

The Green Party is calling on the Government to hold the line in the face of foreign trust lobbying to water down new foreign trust disclosure reforms, the Green Party said today. “Less than a day after the Government was forced to accept most of the Shewan Inquiry recommendations, the foreign trust industry began a concerted campaign to weaken its response,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. Information released to the Green Party under the Official Information Act shows that...

Minster for Māori Development Te Ururoa Flavell must front up to Māori on what his intentions are for the role of the Māori Land Court in his controversial Te Ture Whenua Māori reform agenda, in light of the Ministry of Justice’s proposal to cut over 35 jobs at the Court, the Green Party said today. 

The Chief Inspector of Corrections’ damning report into fight clubs at the Serco-run Mt Eden Correctional Facility definitively shows why the Government should give up on its private-prisons experiment, the Green Party said today.  

The Green Party is calling on Israel to swiftly release Green MP Marama Davidson and other members of the Women’s Peace Flotilla who have been intercepted in international waters off the coast of Gaza. 

Ratification of the Paris climate agreement is the starting gun, not the finish line, in the race to avoid dangerous and potentially catastrophic climate change, the Green Party said today. The comments follow New Zealand's ratification of the Paris climate agreement overnight, which commits the Government to making significant reductions to greenhouse gas emissions. “The Green Party has been calling for the urgent ratification of the Paris Agreement, so we’re pleased the Government has acted swiftly,” said Green Party Co-leader...