National needs to do an about-face on climate change if we want New Zealand to stop setting new records for the hottest year ever, the Green Party said today. The National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) predicts that 2016 will be the hottest ever recorded in New Zealand, breaking the previous record set in 1998. The record confirms the longer-term global trends of climate change. “2016 is going to be the hottest year on record and things are...

The Government’s improving books give it scope to address the long-term deficits National has been running in health, housing, and the environment, the Green Party said today. The Treasury’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update, out today, forecasts the Crown’s fiscal position to steadily improve so that by June 2021, surpluses are expected to rise to $8.5 billion and net debt to reduce to 19 percent of GDP. “Treasury has signalled that the Government has scope to address the long-term...

New measures that will sit alongside GDP to chart the nation’s progress, as well as compulsory country-of-origin labelling on food, will be debated in Parliament following today’s Member’s Bill ballot. The Green Party had two bills pulled from the ballot today: Co-leader James Shaw’s Public Finance (Sustainable Development Indicators) Amendment Bill, and MP Steffan Browning’s Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill. “GDP is a highly imperfect measure of our country’s progress,” said Green Party Co-leader James...

The Green Party wishes to extend its best wishes to the Prime Minister, following his resignation today.   “On behalf of Metiria, the Green Party MPs and the Party, I would like to thank John Key for his eight years of service as Prime Minister,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.   “No matter your political allegiance, you have to respect someone who chooses to make the personal sacrifices required to be our country’s Prime Minister.   “I would like...

A Government support package for earthquake-affected Wellington businesses is absolutely vital, the Green Party said today. More than 100 small and medium businesses are reportedly still affected by the earthquakes, with discussions ongoing between the Government and Wellington City Council around possible support measures. “Our city’s diverse small businesses are a key part of what makes it great and they need support to get through this,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “Wellington’s economic muscle might be the public sector...

The real cost of living has grown more for people on low incomes, beneficiaries, and superannuitants than it has for people on moderate and high incomes under National, the Green Party said today. New data from Statistics NZ’s Household Living-costs Price Indexes shows the effect of rent and power bills rising faster than the general rate of inflation. Low-expenditure households have seen their living costs rise twice as much as high-expenditure households since 2008. “National has built an economy where...

The Paris Climate Agreement coming into force is a triumph for ordinary people around New Zealand and the world who have demanded politicians take action to stop climate change, the Green Party said today. The Paris Climate Agreement will come into force today after crossing the threshold of at least 55 countries, responsible for 55 percent of global emissions, joining the agreement. “Around the world there’s a real desire for action on climate change, and I think we’ve seen that shift here...

The Green Party is calling on the National Government to introduce sector-wide deposit insurance following Kiwibank’s withdrawal of its deposit guarantee. Kiwibank announced to its customers yesterday that its deposit guarantee on savers’ money was ending on 28 February 2017. After February, no bank in New Zealand will offer protection of savers’ deposits. “New Zealand is the only country left in the developed world that doesn’t offer savers’ deposit insurance to protect them against possible loss if their bank ever...

2 November 2016   The National Government must stop relying on dodgy accounting loopholes in order to continue avoiding responsibility for real reductions in New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Green Party said today. Under its Paris Agreement obligations, the National Government plans to change the way it accounts for greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. But a new report released today by the Morgan Foundation reveals that the timing of this change means the Government will avoid liability for a huge...

The National Government has had eight years to take action on climate change and marine protection but has let New Zealand’s oceans decline to a sorry state, putting our economy and native species at risk, the Green Party said today.