Anything less than a transformational national waste strategy and waste legislation will not be enough, the Green Party said today.

The Supreme Court decision to decline an application by Trans-Tasman Resources will help protect the seabed, marine mammals, fish and other marine life off the South Taranaki coast from seabed mining.

The Green Party is stressing the importance of public ownership and meaningful iwi Māori involvement in the governance of the new three waters entities announced by the Government today.

The Green Party welcomes the release of the first draft of part of new legislation to replace the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), and urges the Labour Government to take this once in a generation opportunity to be ambitious in its reform.

The Green Party welcomes progress on the phase-out of some hard to recycle plastics and some single-use plastics, but says more must be done.

The Green Party welcomes the Government’s proposals for increased marine protection in the Hauraki Gulf, released today, but says much more needs to be done.

The Green Party welcomes progress to get cameras on around 300 inshore fishing vessels, but wants the Government to move faster and the industry to contribute more funding.

The Green Party is pleased to see new whitebaiting measures, announced today, to establish a more consistent management regime across the country, but we must go further, faster, to protect our native taonga.  

The Green Party is urging the Government to stick with its 2017 commitment to no new mines on public conservation land, as the Government speeds up the review and reclassification process for stewardship land, which comprises a third of the public conservation estate.

“The Government’s decision to cave into agribusiness and delay the implementation of critical regulations on intensive winter grazing is a bad outcome for rivers and animal welfare”, Green Party Environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said today.