News

  • Greens support Budget moves to protect biosecurity

    The Green Party will support the new levies on international passengers to protect New Zealand’s biosecurity, announced in Budget 2015. “New Zealand’s biosecurity is vital to our agricultural and tourism sectors, not to mention our natural environment, and so we will support the Government’s moves to strengthen biosecurity,” Green Party tourism and economic development spokesperson James Shaw said. “The Green Party acknowledges than some in the tourism industry have concerns about these levies, but we are encouraged that the Government...
  • National’s police cuts risk community safety

    Real cuts to Police funding will leave our communities more vulnerable to crime, the Green Party said today. Budget 2015 sees further long-term cuts to police spending. Police spending peaked in 2010 and has been falling since, down 5.7 percent to 2015 and 11.5 percent out to 2018 in real terms. New spending of $164 million spread over four years is not keeping up with rising costs. “Police Budget cuts means we’ll lose more community constables and see less of...
  • Today’s Budget still no solution to child poverty

    Today’s Budget is still no solution to child poverty, the Green Party said. “John Key could have kept his promise to tackle child poverty, but he chose instead to do the bare minimum,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said. “Much of what National is giving to beneficiary families in one hand, will be taken away with the other. “The increases to benefits that families are getting will be eroded in many cases by reductions in other payments. “Increases to benefits...
  • Govt must guarantee 100% of homes built on Crown land are affordable

    Any Government move to free up Crown land for housing in Auckland must come with a guarantee that 100% of the homes built on it will be dedicated affordable housing, the Green Party said today. “The Government can’t fix the housing crisis in Auckland by freeing up large swathes of land so developers can then build houses that Aucklanders can’t actually afford to buy,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. “The bottom line of any new deal to build on...
  • Government must put bees first

    The Environmental Protection Agency needs to apply the precautionary principle and stop the use of pesticides containing neonicotinoids due to the detrimental affect they have on New Zealand’s bees the Green party said today.
  • Greens welcome ‘locked-gate’ policy on Taranaki dump farms

    The Green Party has welcomed news that New Plymouth District Council will implement a ‘locked gate’ policy which prevents farmers from grazing cows on oil industry dump sites until the soil has been tested and declared safe. “After years of the National Government claiming that there were no issues with cows grazing on pasture spread with oil and gas waste, it’s great to see New Plymouth District Council stepping up and taking leadership to protect New Zealanders and our clean,...
  • PMs ‘Oliver Twist’ poverty measure excuse for breaking budget promise

    John Key has completely invented a new poverty measure that drastically underestimates the extent of child poverty, presumably to avoid taking meaningful action in this week’s budget, the Green Party says. In the last week John Key has put the number of children in poverty as low as 60,000, by inventing a new threshold for material deprivation that is higher than anywhere else in the Western world. “John Key promised this budget would be a poverty circuit breaker, but his...