Community organisations, iwi and landholders will be able to apply for grants from an $8 million conservation fund to help save our native plants, birds and insects and habitats, Conservation Minister, Eugenie Sage announced today. Biodiversity protection will be the focus of the 2019 funding round for the Department of Conservation’s Community Fund. Grants from the Fund help community organisations, councils, iwi and private landowners carry out practical conservation projects such as controlling weed and animal pests, planting and restoring...

An historic wooden trestle viaduct that once serviced the sawmilling industry has been restored and is once again open to visitors to the magnificent Waitutu forest. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage today celebrated the reopening of southern Fiordland’s Percy Burn viaduct, thought to be the highest surviving wooden bridge in the world, following significant restoration work. “Congratulations to Southland’s Port Craig Viaducts Charitable Trust and the Southland District Council for their vision, commitment and sheer hard work in restoring this iconic...

The Green Party has negotiated to achieve substantial improvements to Medicinal Cannabis legislation which provide certainty and clarity to patients and their whānau.

A Green Party member’s bill that allows New Zealanders to know where their food comes was passed almost unanimously by Parliament today, Green Party MP Gareth Hughes has announced. 

The Green Party is calling on the Justice Minister to ensure improved prisoner rehabilitation and integration by allowing people in prison to cast their vote during elections. “Today is 125 years since New Zealand women first went to the polls, yet to this day there are New Zealanders still denied from casting their vote”, Green spokesperson on Justice Golriz Ghahraman said today. “This is because in 2010 the National Party banned all people in prison from casting their vote. “This...

The Green Party welcome an external review into bullying and harassment of staff and contractors at Parliament. 

Six month phase-out period Applies to all plastic shopping bags under 70 microns All retailers to comply Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage today confirmed the mandatory phase out of single-use plastic shopping bags in New Zealand, to come into effect around the middle of next year. This announcement follows a five week public consultation process, where 92 per cent of submitters supported the proposed mandatory phase out. “The clear majority of people who responded to the consultation supported...

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash today announced an important step forward on work to restore the health of the Hauraki Gulf. “We have announced today that a Ministerial Advisory Committee will be established to play a key role in implementing the Sea Change Plan, which includes proposals for improving the health of the Hauraki Gulf,” said Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage.  The Sea Change Plan is an aspirational document which includes 181 proposals developed over four years...

New Zealand and Chile will help protect vulnerable seabirds, including the critically endangered Antipodean albatross. A cooperative arrangement was signed today by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, on behalf of Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash, and the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, who is visiting New Zealand alongside President Sebastián Piñera. It establishes a cooperative partnership between the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand, and Chile’s Undersecretariat of...

New Zealand is joining its voice and influence with others in the international community to better protect biodiversity by joining the Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration adopted in Egypt on 15 November. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage joined other political leaders at the event to discuss global biodiversity at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) High Level Segment in Sharm El-Sheikh. “This declaration comes at a pivotal point for nature,” Eugenie Sage said. “Despite significant efforts, global biodiversity continues to decline. As the...