The Government has ruled out public input into the inquiry into New Zealand foreign trusts which will undermine public confidence in any of the inquiry’s findings, the Green Party said today. Finance Minister Bill English ruled out public input into the foreign trust inquiry during question time in Parliament today. “Excluding the public from an inquiry into foreign trusts will further weaken the inquiry’s credibility,” said Green Party Co-Leader James Shaw. “Without public input, inquiry head John Shewan will have...

The Green Party is welcoming John Key’s U-turn on foreign trusts but is calling for a broader public inquiry to ensure this isn’t a whitewash, the Green Party said today. “The Prime Minister is in damage control mode over the use (and abuse) of New Zealand’s foreign trust regime, today announcing that he will appoint an independent expert to review New Zealand’s rules around foreign trusts,” said Green Party Co-Leader James Shaw. “While I welcome the Prime Minister’s U-turn on...

The Government’s plan to sell Kiwibank to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and ACC Fund for $495 million could end up costing taxpayers between $800 million and $1.1 billion to buy back, the Green Party said today. Analysis done by the Parliamentary Library using two different valuation methods comes up with a cost to buy back Kiwibank in five years’ time at $800 million to $1.1 billion dollars. “The sale of Kiwibank could end up being extremely costly for taxpayers....

The National Government’s failure to invest in Kiwibank has today forced Kiwibank’s owner New Zealand Post to take a step down the road to privatisation of the bank, the Green Party said. “If National had injected capital into Kiwibank, to allow Kiwibank to expand like it should have years ago, we wouldn’t be looking at a possible future privatisation,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said. “Bill English says he’ll buy the Kiwibank shares back if he has to in five...

John Key’s claim that the full details of foreign trusts can be revealed is contradicted by his own Minister of Revenue who, in 2012, said IRD could only investigate dodgy trusts if it had the name of the trust it was investigating, the Green Party says. In 2012, the Green Party asked then Minister of Revenue, Peter Dunne, what specific information overseas tax officials needed to know about New Zealand foreign trusts before they could receive further information on them...

The Green Party will today seek the leave of Parliament to introduce a Member’s Bill that would end the secrecy around foreign trusts in New Zealand, by imposing a registration and disclosure scheme on foreign trusts. The Income Tax (Foreign Trusts Registration and Disclosure) Amendment Bill would increase transparency by requiring trustees to disclose full information about the settlors, trustees, and beneficiaries of a trust. The IRD would publish this information in an online register. “Given the immediate risks to...

“John Key’s got it wrong. The whole point of our policy is to strengthen Kiwibank to be a better commercial bank, not weaken it by encouraging non-commercial behaviour,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said. “John Key is being deliberately alarmist and making things up because he doesn’t have his own plan for improving banking for Kiwis. “The evidence from Kiwibank’s first few years shows how wrong John Key is. Back then, capital injections and lower dividends helped Kiwibank compete commercially...

The Green Party will strengthen Kiwibank so that it can compete with the big four foreign owned banks leading to better interest rates, the Green Party said today. To achieve better bank interest rates, the Green Party will: Inject a further $100 million of capital in Kiwibank to speed its expansion into commercial banking; Allow Kiwibank to keep more of its profits to help it grow faster; and, Give Kiwibank a clear public purpose to lead the market in passing...

The Green Party is introducing a members’ bill today that will reduce environmental degradation as a result of dairy intensification by requiring all cows to wear nappies. “There are too many cows making too much waste for our environment to handle. Cow nappies are a simple way to keep that waste off the land and out of our waterways,” said Green Party co-leader James Shaw. “Cow number 1s and 2s are responsible for degradation of our waterways through run-off and...

The National Government has admitted it has no idea of the amount of tax it is missing out on from multinational companies that are avoiding paying their fair share of tax, the Green Party said today. Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse was unable to answer questions in the House today from James Shaw on the amount of lost tax revenue from multinational companies. Herald investigative reporter Matt Nippert estimated the amount of missing tax could be close to $500 million per...