Genesis Energy’s announcement that it will end coal-fired generation at Huntly in 2018 is welcome news for the environment and shows leadership where the Government has failed to take action, the Green Party said today. “This is the beginning of the end for coal use in New Zealand. This move by Genesis will reduce our carbon emissions significantly and gives us hope for the future,” said Green Party co-leader James Shaw. “Genesis’ coal use at Huntly generated 1,624kt of CO2...

Following revelations of serious concerns expressed by both the Auditor General and Treasury, the Green Party has once again written to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) urging her to investigate the pay-offs made to Saudi businessman Mr Hamood Al-Ali Al-Khalaf.

The Green Party is calling on John Key to develop a clear plan to reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, following US President Barack Obama’s announcement of a plan to drastically cut emissions from the US energy sector. “It’s great to see President Obama showing real leadership with a plan to act on climate change. The New Zealand Government also needs to develop a plan to ensure we do our fair share in the global effort to prevent climate change,”...

New information released by the Green Party today shows that the Reserve Bank has failed to forecast inflation accurately over the last four years meaning interest rates have been kept higher than necessary, hurting businesses and households. Analysis by the Parliamentary Library of Reserve Bank inflation forecasting versus the actual inflation rate shows that the Bank has consistently mis-forecast inflation over the last four years, resulting in a higher Official Cash Rate (OCR) than necessary to control inflation. Higher cash...

The Green Party is demanding to know why SERCO’s contract has not been terminated yet despite at least six Performance Notices in the last three years.

The cooling New Zealand economy has prompted the Reserve Bank to continue its stimulatory stance by dropping the OCR further, in the absence of any long term plan for economic resilience from National, the Green Party said. “With the economy slowing down rapidly, prompting the Reserve Bank to drop the OCR, National’s failure to put in place long-term measures to ensure continued productive investment and job creation has been exposed,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “Lower interest rates will...

The National Government ought to listen to the public and raise the ambition of its climate change target, the Green Party said today.

Growing economic pessimism is justified and will be reinforced further by National’s failure to grow the internationally competitive part of our economy, comprising of exports and import competing industries, the Green Party said today.

Now that the four biggest parties in Parliament agree on the way forward, it’s time for the Government to get on with simplifying provisional tax for small businesses, the Green Party said today. “The Green Party has been talking about simplifying provisional tax for small businesses, like Labour suggested today, since before the 2011 election,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said. “Anyone who talks to small business operators knows how annoying and difficult the current guesswork-based provisional tax system can...

New research by the London School of Economics shows that the National Government’s assumption that action on climate change will cost more than inaction is wrong, the Green Party said today. The research, published by two research institutes at the London School of Economics, concludes that the majority of the global emissions reductions needed to decarbonise the global economy can be achieved in ways that are nationally net-beneficial to countries, even leaving aside the climate benefits. “Reducing emissions and economic...