New expert analysis of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) shows that it will take power away from Māori, the Green Party said today. The analysis criticises a lack of consultation with Māori and shows how the TPPA limits the ability of tangata whenua to exercise control over their own affairs because it transfers power from the government, which has obligations to Māori, to multinational corporations, which don’t. It finds that the TPPA’s intellectual property chapter will ‘make it more...

Minister of Justice Amy Adams should not extradite a New Zealand resident to China because she can’t rely on that Government’s assurances that it will not subject him to torture or the death penalty, the Green Party says.

The news that Native Affairs, an award winning show on Māori Television, is to be cut down to half an hour and to a sole presenter is disheartening and a step in the wrong direction, the Green Party said today. “I have been on this show many, many times, and have enjoyed the robust exchange of viewpoints. People need the space to have these important conversations about the issues that confront our communities,” Green Party Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson...

Paula Bennett’s first act as incoming Climate Change Minister has been to reject pleas from the Pacific Islands for New Zealand to back a 1.5 degree limit to global warming that could give them the chance of survival, the Green Party has said. Minister Bennett refused to give New Zealand’s support to an explicit goal in the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to a 1.5 degree increase, despite growing support from allies including Australia, Canada and Pacific nations...

The Green parties of New Zealand and Australia have lodged a submission with the Australian Human Rights Commission asking it to establish an inquiry into the treatment of New Zealand citizens who are detained in immigration detention centres. Green Party human rights spokesperson Marama Davidson has written to the Commission on behalf of the New Zealand and Australian Green Parties, saying people from both countries were deeply concerned about the human rights abuses occurring in Australian facilities and the impact...

Yet another report showing that homeless families are being forced onto the streets or into cars must be the final catalyst for the Government to build the thousands of homes New Zealanders desperately need, the Green Party says. The Citizens Advice Bureau has today released a report showing that the number of homeless people seeking help has doubled under National and that families are being broken up in order to find accommodation for Mum, Dad and the kids. “The National...

The Green Party wants to know how the Government can be completely sure a New Zealander being extradited to China will not be tortured or face the death penalty when the New Zealander faces murder charges.

The Green Party is calling on the Government to uphold its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child* and increase the supply of state homes in Auckland, to help house the growing number of homeless families in the city. The call comes after the release of a Salvation Army report which revealed that 47 per cent (568) of people who sought help from the Army and Catholic community services were children, some of whom were...

The Government is allowing Kiwi children to become seriously ill because it refuses to create minimum health and safety standards for rental homes and properly renovate state houses, the Green Party said today. Despite it being spring, stories continue to emerge of New Zealanders becoming sick because of the cold, damp and mouldy state homes they’re forced to live in, with the Tihore-Aue family of Porirua the latest to speak out. “Thousands and thousands of Kiwis are living with black...

It’s time for John Key to stop putting his mateship with Malcom Turnbull above the need to call Australia out for its appalling human rights abuses, the Green Party said today. “John Key’s more interested in making silly bets over the rugby with his new BFF Malcolm Turnbull than getting New Zealanders off Christmas Island,” said Green Party human rights spokesperson Marama Davidson. “Overnight, Australia faced a grilling at the United Nations over their treatment of people in their detention...