TV3’s interview with prisoner Arthur Taylor once again highlights a worrying lack of transparency around our prison system, which the National Government has refused to open up to proper independent scrutiny, the Green Party said today. In an interview with TV3’s The Nation, prisoner Arthur Taylor claimed that many New Zealand prisons are still controlled by gangs, and that contraband like cellphones and cigarettes are regularly being smuggled in. “These are serious allegations, but without independent oversight New Zealanders are...

Judith Collins’ abuse of information about prisoners in order to attack a Labour MP marks a dangerous return to her dirty politics-style way of doing Government business, the Green Party said today.   Corrections Minister Judith Collins went on the attack today, accusing a Labour Party MP of visiting notorious prisoner Arthur Taylor, and refusing to confirm how she knew about the supposed visits.   “Judith Collins’ dirty politics-style of running her ministries is designed to intimidate opposition MPs and others...

A blowout in prison population numbers, that appears to have caught the National Government off guard, is the latest evidence of the Government’s failure to manage the Prison Service, the Green Party said today.

The latest critique of the TPPA, as an old fashioned agreement inconsistent with human rights, is a timely warning that the signing of the deal in Auckland today is not in the interests of New Zealanders, the Green Party said. United Nations Human Rights Council Independent Expert Professor Alfred de Sayas has issued a statement explaining how the ‘outdated’ TPPA is ‘fundamentally flawed and should not be signed or ratified unless provision is made to guarantee the regulatory space of...

Reports of the police visiting known activists to ask their plans for the TPPA show appalling judgement and are a poor attempt at a chilling effect, said the Green Party.

The Green Party is disappointed but unsurprised that John Key has refused to support setting up an independent policy costings unit, said the Green Party today.

The Green Party has announced a policy to bring more clarity into the political system today, in Co-leader Metiria Turei’s State of the Nation Speech.   Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei proposed the formation of the Policy Costings Unit (PCU), which would operate independently to cost the policy of political parties.   “New Zealanders deserve more transparency from their politicians so that they can better engage in the political system,” said Mrs Turei.   “That’s why the Green Party is...

The Green Party launched a petition at Rātana today in support of its Members’ Bill to stop the compulsory acquisition of whenua Māori under the Public Works Act. “This is a real opportunity to stop any more unfair confiscations of what is left of whenua Māori. The rallying call of Dame Whina Cooper of ‘Not one more acre’ of compulsory Māori land acquisitions can now be put into practice, and the Treaty of Waitangi can be made a stronger part...

The Green Party would like the Reserve Bank to make public its reasons for changing its policy to charge media outlets for Official Information Act (OIA) requests.

The Independent Police Complaints Authority (IPCA) has written to the Green Party confirming that it will investigate its complaint about police actions that led to unlawful search of journalist Nicky Hager’s home. The Green Party received a letter this afternoon from the IPCA confirming that it will investigate, after the party wrote to the authority on Monday. A High Court judge last week found that the police warrant and search on Mr Hager’s home, which followed the publication of his...