National steals Greens policy, calls it ‘turbo-charged’

The National Party has the Greens to thank for what it’s calling a ‘turbo-charged’ policy – putting more money into sustainable farming practices - but it won’t be enough to take the step change we need to clean up our rivers, the Green Party said today.

The comments come on the back of an announcement that the Sustainable Farming Fund will get another $20 million a year under a National government, which is just a small part of an initiative that the Green Party announced in a plan to clean up water ways, just last week.

“What we need is a real change in the way we farm, to reduce environmental impacts like greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen leaching. Our Clean Water, Great Farming policy will go a lot further towards that than National is prepared to do,” said Green Party leader James Shaw.

“We will invest around $136 million in initiatives to move to better farming. We’ll invest in the Sustainable Farming Fund, create a Transformational Farming Partnership Fund, support organic farming and growing, and establish a ‘Good Food Aotearoa NZ’ national sustainability accreditation scheme.

“Revenue for those ventures will come from a nitrate pollution levy charged on dairy farmers who continue to pollute our soils and water.

“We’ll also accelerate depreciation on the infrastructure that has left so many dairy farmers up to their eyeballs in debt, so that they have breathing room to pay down debt and free up capital to move away from intensive farming,” said Mr Shaw.

Action

Bird of the Year

Send Christopher Luxon an email letting him know that his fast track to environmental ruin is not something Aotearoa signed up for.

Action

Submission Guide to the Law Commission for Trans, Non-Binary & Intersex Peoples' Rights

Make a submission today for increased protection our trans, non-binary and intersex communities.

Action

Emissions Reduction Plan Submission Guide

Submit today on the Government's inadequate Emissions Reduction Plan.

Action

Safer Speeds Petition

Sign our petition asking Christopher Luxon to keep our roads safe.

Action

Cut the Coal Petition | Join the movement

Fight back: Tell the government that coal mining is not our future.

Action

Safer Speeds

Submit today on the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits, which stops Councils from being able to implement safe speeds on their streets.

Action

Protect Our Freshwater

Join our Green MPs in calling for the government to protect freshwater. Proposed changes to the Resource Management Act threaten New Zealand's...

Action

Marine Farm Consents Bill | Make A Submission

Tell the government that we will not accept damage to our oceans.

Volunteer

The Greens are proud to be driven by passionate people like you. Today we need your help to take action on the biggest issues facing Aotearoa. Volu...

Action

Save Auckland's Climate Budget

Sign the petition to stop Mayor Wayne Brown's proposal for dangerous cuts to climate and environmental programmes that protect us from extreme weat...

Action

No New Mines 2023

Action

Expand Voting

Now more than ever, young people in Aotearoa are impacted by Government decisions, and they deserve to have a say. We are calling on all Members of...

Action

End Intensive Winter Grazing

Sign the petition to Labour Ministers, to move faster in bringing regulations into force and end intensive winter grazing.

Action

Trains for Climate

Add your name to our open letter urging the Minister for Finance Grant Robertson to save our passenger trains between Wellington, the Wairarapa and...

Action

Healthy Oceans 2022

Join our Healthy Oceans Crew to help us keep the health and protection of our oceans high on the Labour Government’s political agenda.

Action

It's time: A Ministry for Rainbow Communities

Join our call asking the Prime Minister to establish a Ministry for Rainbow Communities that can champion Rainbow issues.

Action

No new mines on conservation land

Sign the open letter asking Labour Ministers to stick to their promise of banning new mining projects on conservation land.

Action

Allow community ownership of our buses

Public transport is an essential service and helps to tackle the climate crisis by reducing our carbon emissions. But there are barriers to communi...

Action

Local Events

We have activists across Aotearoa / New Zealand who are working hard to build a brighter future for our kids and grandkids. This page lists upcomin...

Latest Environment Announcements

Story

Greens call for public to back Wrybill in BOTY and beyond

The Green Party is calling on the public to support the Ngutu Pare Wrybill not just in this year’s Bird of the Year competition but also in pushing...

Fast track still on track to environmental destruction

Our environment remains at risk despite the Government's proposed changes to its controversial fast-track legislation.

Government throws the environment on the scrap heap

The Government has shown its disdain for nature by undermining and cutting programmes which protect and conserve our environment.

Further environmental mismanagement on the cards

The Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment.

Scrapping Significant Natural Areas shows significant neglect

The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife ...

Say hello to NZ’s most anti-environment government in decades

The Government is giving big industry a free pass to bulldoze New Zealand’s precious native wildlife.

Story

Greenpeace nitrates research proves need for strong freshwater regulation

The Green Party is welcoming the release of an interactive map which enables people to monitor nitrate levels in their drinking water.

Three waters rebrand insufficient

Today the Government adopted a long held Green Party position to increase the number of water entities to ensure a closer connection with communiti...

Freshwater crisis needs stronger government action

New Zealand’s rivers, lakes and freshwater are in crisis and there needs to be a more ambitious Government plan to clean them up and protect agains...

Changes needed to three waters plans

Greater local oversight and control, seven instead of four entities, stormwater staying with councils, and stronger safeguards against privatisatio...

National reckless on rivers

The opposition’s dangerous plan to scrap rules to improve the health of rivers and lakes around Aotearoa highlights the importance of having a stro...

Clean Water

From the maunga to moana, water is a taonga which must be protected, but too many rivers, lakes, and wetlands have been polluted over the years, an...

Petition

Take action to protect our oceans

We’re taking the health of our oceans seriously and our Thriving Oceans Plan sets out exactly how the Green Party will protect them so we all can e...

TAKE ACTION

Policy

Agriculture and Rural Affairs Policy

The Green Party will support the agricultural sector through a just transition to reduce its emissions, minimise harmful inputs and practices, rege...

Story

Review of live animal exports needed to protect animal welfare and New Zealand’s agricultural brand

The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor to review New Zealand’s live animal exports rules. “New Ze...

Cameras on boats must be quickly scaled up: Greens

The Green Party is glad to finally see the rollout of cameras on selected fishing boats but believes it needs to be scaled-up fast. “We need camera...

More measures to protect Hector’s dolphins

Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage are accelerating work to improve protection of the nationally endangered Hect...

Commercial water charge the right thing to do

Using water for commercial gain is a privilege that should be paid for, the Green Party said today. “We recognise that the issue of charging for wa...