The Green Party is welcoming Labour’s commitment to greener transport for Auckland after it today announced support for light rail lines to the airport and West Auckland. Labour today said it would prioritise building light rail lines to the airport and West Auckland within a decade. In July the Green Party announced it would fast track rail to the airport by 2021 and is campaigning to have rail to the North Shore completed by 2030. “It’s fantastic to have Labour...

Our kids are being repeatedly hospitalised because the Government refuses to take action to ensure our housing stock is up to scratch, the Green Party said today. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians president-elect said today that children with preventable respiratory illnesses are being re-admitted to hospital because they're being sent back to cold, damp homes. “While National has stood by as kids continue to pack out hospital waiting rooms, the Greens will introduce a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for...

The Green Party is announcing today that in Government it will fast-track the building of a new rail line to Auckland airport to be completed in 2021, in time for the next America’s Cup. By light rail it will take approximately 43 minutes to travel from Wynyard Quarter, up Queen Street and Dominion Road to the airport. The $2.3 billion rail line will be a project of national significance funded from the transport fund. In Government we will also investigate...

The Government needs to ensure that all new babies have access to a wahakura safe sleeping device, the Green Party said today.

The Green Party is thrilled that Parliament will consider whether to finally legalise medicinal cannabis in New Zealand. Green Party health spokesperson Julie Anne Genter’s Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis and Other Matters) Amendment Bill was drawn from the Member’s Ballot today. The Bill will make it legal for any New Zealander who is suffering from a terminal illness or any debilitating condition to use cannabis or cannabis products with the support of a registered medical practitioner. “We are finally...

The Government needs to vastly improve Auckland's public transport before it introduces tolls on Auckland's roads, or it risks further punishing people who live on the edge of the city, the Green Party said today. Finance Minister Steven Joyce today announced that the Government and Auckland Council are investigating road tolls in Auckland to manage demand on the roads. “Aucklanders need to have access to reliable, fast, affordable trains and buses before road pricing is introduced to discourage people driving...

The Green Party is calling for the West Auckland community to be involved in Watercare’s decision over where a new treatment plant should be located, and an independent ecological assessment of the proposed new site in Titirangi. This follows a decision last week by Watercare to not build the plant in Oratia and to instead look into a plot of land in Titirangi, in the Waitakere Ranges. “Design and placement for new infrastructure like this should involve the community from...

The Green Party welcomes the move by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne to declassify a non-psychoactive substance in cannabis, cannabidiol (CBD), for therapeutic purposes today. “It’s fantastic to see the Government finally accepting expert advice that CBD should be exempted from the Misuse of Drugs Act. This is one component of the Member’s Bill I put forward last month,” said Green Party health spokesperson Julie Anne Genter. “The Greens are committed to comprehensive drug law reform, including medicinal cannabis being...

A new report is damning about the care received by people from our mental health system, and the Minister of Health needs to take responsibility, the Green Party said today. The Auditor-General report Mental health: Effectiveness of the planning to discharge people shows that only two-thirds of people discharged from hospital will be followed up within seven days and that no DHB is meeting its target on this measure. “Our broken mental health system cannot deliver the care needed for...

Aucklanders are the biggest losers in today’s Budget, with nothing new that will fix transport and housing problems in the city, the Green Party said today. “National is either ignoring Auckland or they’re cynically holding back funding to offer later on as an election bribe,” said Green Party Auckland issues spokesperson Julie Anne Genter. “There is nothing in this Budget for the thousands of Aucklanders this afternoon on crowded buses and trains, sitting in gridlock, on their way home to...