A new report, commissioned by and released today by the Green Party, shows the Education Review Office (ERO) and the Ministry of Education are seriously failing queer students in secondary schools. The Green Party report, How Safe Are Our Schools?: An analysis of the Current Policy Framework Aimed at Protecting Queer Young People in New Zealand Secondary Schools highlights a severe lack of support, in some schools, for queer and trans* students.  The report was researched and written by Murray...

New evidence shows that the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) is almost certainly sharing metadata with the US spy agency NSA, the Green Party said today. Newly released documents from NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden detail an NSA search engine, known as ICREACH, which contains over 850 billion records of metadata on phone calls, mobile phone locations and emails. The documents suggest that this data is then shared amongst Five Eyes partners, including New Zealand. A document from 2008 also states...

The Green Party has announced today that its key housing policy for the election is to deliver healthy houses for our poorest children by improving the quality of rental accommodation and rights of tenants.

National is confused about whether or not it will enact tax cuts, the Green Party said today.

National's so-called 'rock star' economy is unravelling and today's trade figures for July showing a 7.5 percent fall in exports from June is a sign of the trouble ahead, the Green Party said today. "The 5 percent fall in dairy exports, is indicative of the problems ahead and demonstrates the folly of National's polluting economy relying so heavily on commodities," Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today. "Dairy comprised nearly 42 percent of all exports in the year to...

John Key is again dangling tax cuts in front of voters, but such cuts will come at the cost of cuts to health, education and environmental protection, the Green Party said today. "Independent analysis of the Government's books, commissioned by the Green Party, revealed National is already planning to cut $3.8 billion over the next three years in real spending in health, education and environmental protection," Green Partly Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said. "It is these real cuts in health,...

New home buyers in Auckland are on average $228,400 worse off when buying a home now than when National came to power, and National's meek deposit policy does nothing to make housing more affordable says the Green Party. "Since National came to power in 2008 the median house price in Auckland has risen by $228,400. Today's announcement is a meek band aid solution to a much more serious problem," said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman. "National chucking a few...

John Key must release all the information regarding the declassification of Security Intelligence Service documents that embarrassed Phil Goff prior to the 2011 election, the Green Party said today. Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics outlined a convincing case that either John Key or members of his staff were engaged in assisting WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater gaining access to SIS documents that embarrassed then Labour Leader Phil Goff prior to the 2011 election. A video of Prime Minister John Key answering...

The proposal to set up a forestry co-operative to market New Zealand forest products is welcome, but not if it is foreign controlled and its prime concern is to simply export more unprocessed logs, the Green Party said today. "The bulk of forests are already foreign owned, and this initiative is intent on wrapping up the rats and mice of New Zealand's remaining 14,000 small forests," Green Party forestry spokesperson Steffan Browning said today. United Forestry Group Ltd (UFG), said...

John Key's poverty denial is damaging the wellbeing of Maori and Pasifika people as new research shows they are getting poorer, sicker and less likely to be employed under National, the Green Party said today.