Category: Green Party

Source: Green Party

The coalition’s careless approach to speed limits will come at the cost of community safety and see our road toll continue to climb. 

“An absence of evidence and a moral compass gone missing are driving this Government’s agenda against safe speeds,” says Green Party Transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter. 

“The evidence is clear; unsafe speed limits result in a higher chance of crashes occurring and loved ones being unnecessarily lost. All of this, for the sake of mere minutes or even seconds being shaved off travel times. The risks completely outweigh the reward. 

“State Highway 5 avoided a staggering 34 serious crashes the year after it reduced its speed limit to 80km/h. State Highway 6 saw an 80 per cent reduction in deaths by prioritising safety over speed. The OECD has made clear that speed is the most significant contributor to our road toll, with 73 percent of road trauma happening on roads with speed limits higher than 80km/h.

“The Government’s fixation with faster, more dangerous roads is the real ideological problem here. It is high time evidence was prioritised over the shallow soundbite policy that has characterised the course of this Government. 

“If the Government was serious about enhancing the efficiency of our transport network, it would invest in public transport, rail for people and freight as well as walking and cycling to ease congestion. 

“These investments would save people significantly more time than the average 20 seconds saved by upping urban speed limits to 50km/h or the four minutes saved by reversing speed limit changes on a journey nearly 2 hours long on State Highway 6. 

“The time savings are small enough that people would not notice – an increase around 1-3% of the journey time, if that. What people do notice is when a loved one doesn’t come home. 

“We can build a more efficient transport network whilst putting people first. The solutions are at our fingertips,” says Julie Anne Genter. 

Source: Green Party

The Government has once again kicked the climate action can down the road by removing agricultural emissions from the Emissions Trading Scheme. 

Climate delay is the new denial. Today’s announcement from the Government that it will shred progress on agricultural emissions pricing is just the latest episode of disregard for our climate and environment,” says Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“The Climate Minister’s sheepish statement that we’ll still somehow meet climate change commitments is a far cry from reality. He and his office have rejected responsibility to look at the impacts of pretty much every climate-shredding policy of his Government so far.

“From pouring oil, coal and gas on the climate crisis fire, the Government has now put half of our emissions which come from agriculture into the industry-led too-hard basket.

“Meanwhile, farmers on the ground are among those hit the first and worst by climate change. From increasingly unpredictable seasonality to the billions required to clean up livelihoods destroyed in the Hawke’s Bay due to climate-change-charged weather last year.

“The Green Party believes farmers, along with all New Zealanders, deserve a sustainable future. Politicians need to step up and make responsible decisions, not cave to cynical, short-term industry interest at the cost of the very fundamentals that sustain our food production in the first place. 

“The science tells us we must reduce methane emissions. Fair pricing is a crucial way to achieve this, putting the sector on an even footing with the rest of our economy,” says Chlöe Swarbrick. 

Source: Green Party

The Government’s move to pour billions into potholes whilst remaining inactive on climate change does nothing to solve our transport system’s core problems. 

“The coalition of climate deniers have their heads buried in potholes,” says the Green Party’s transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter.

“Pouring $4 billion into potholes might as well be money poured down the drain if we fail to confront the climate crisis and prevent a future filled with wave after wave of natural disaster. 

“Simeon Brown created the hype around potholes but doesn’t have solutions to the real challenges our transport network is facing. 

“The Minister really has no idea how our transport network works and what is needed to enable more people and goods to keep moving. Investment in rail, public transport infrastructure, and coastal shipping is a vital part of reducing pressure on our roads, reducing transport costs, and bringing down emissions.

“Other transport solutions are desperately needed to shift money away from repairing roads constantly. For $4 billion we could stop the damage in the first place by improving low emissions alternatives such as public transport, taking pressure off our climate and roading infrastructure. 

“We desperately need funding to shift more heavy freight onto rail and coastal shipping rather than entrenching our dependence on roading.

“To plunge huge amounts of taxpayer money into something as short term in its impact as fixing potholes is simply throwing good money after bad. We need a government that has the guts to look at the long term needs of our country,” says Julie Anne Genter.

Source: Green Party

The Government must ensure workers’ rights are at the core of any changes made to the Holidays Act 2003. 

“An erosion of workers’ rights and a decay in the balance between employer and employee will become core to the legacy of this Government if it continues on its current trajectory,” says Green Party spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety, Teanau Tuiono.

“The Government’s tampering with the Holidays Act looks set to complicate leave entitlements and leave workers with less – especially part-time workers.

“Our economy has been built upon the backs of our workers, stripping them of sick leave would be a slap in the face and a drain on the productivity and morale of our workforce. 

“The coalition has been unapologetic and unequivocal in administering its anti-worker agenda over the course of this term. We have seen fair pay agreements binned, 90-day trials reinstated and funding for bus driver pay slashed. 

“I am concerned that this review will be used as a platform to further the anti-worker agenda that undermines our communities and short-changes our people. 

“More must be done to support our workers. The Green Party campaigned on five weeks of annual leave for everyone so that people have more time to connect with their whānau, communities, and things that matter to them.

“The least the Government can do is ensure it is engaging with workers as well as businesses in this review. 

“We know part-time workers are more likely to be lower paid and have fewer options for managing their leave. They also often need to work around other responsibilities, like caring for people. Any changes made must not impede upon the rights of these workers. 

“The Green Party won’t stop fighting for everyone in Aotearoa to have access to strong rights, secure work, and decent pay, to ensure workers can thrive,” says Teanau Tuiono. 

Source: Green Party

The Government has shown its disdain for nature by undermining and cutting programmes which protect and conserve our environment.

“For all the Government’s hot air about Budget ‘24, they forgot about the fundamental thing that upholds it all – the environment,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for the Environment, Lan Pham.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars has been cut from environmental protection and conservation programmes, including freshwater quality improvements, climate change programmes, and cleaning up contaminated sites.

“They’ve even cut funding for data collection, to make it harder for New Zealanders to track how badly this Government is trashing our environment.

“For a finance minister who claims to be a ‘blue-green’, Nicola Willis’ budget makes crystal clear that this Government sees the environment simply as a means for corporates and lobbyists to make a few quick bucks at the expense of our future.

“An extractive approach to the environment may be a good way to line the pockets of companies who bankrolled the coalition partners in this government, but it seriously undermines the clean, green, fair country that we owe it to future generations to be.

“The Department of Conservation manages a third of our country’s land, and yet funding is being cut in the Government’s relentless ideologically driven push to reduce public spending – regardless of the consequences. 

“Initiatives that protect the environment have been gutted to free up money for tax cuts, and the Waste Disposal Levy is being hijacked for use in disaster response.

“Truly prosperous economic activity is only possible if our planet is also thriving. We depend on healthy nature and a stable climate for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the materials for life,” says Lan Pham.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party’s Te Mātāwaka (Māori and Pasifika) caucus has labelled this year’s Budget as unambitious for Māori and unapologetic in its disregard for Te Tiriti. 

“Today’s Budget is pathetic, underwhelming and lazy,” says Green Party co-leader, Marama Davidson 

“The Minister for Māori Development is clearly asleep at the wheel, I suspect he didn’t even bother to get in the waka.”

“The Government has chosen to turn back time on Te Tiriti progress with a Budget that does little for Māori and even less to honour our founding document.

“Māori Housing initiatives. Gone. Māori Climate initiatives. Gone. All there is is a small sugar hit for kapa haka. Our whānau will see right through this. 

“The Te Tiriti-trashing legacy of this three-headed taniwha of a Government will be felt across decades as it exacerbates the generational trauma felt across our communities. 

“Time and time again, we have heard the Prime Minister say he is focused on achieving outcomes for Māori whilst dismantling the very institutions built to support them.  

“We have seen the Māori Health Authority scrapped and Māori wards just about discarded whilst the Government looks to remove all references to Te Tiriti from legislation. All of this alongside a Budget that lacks any ambition for Māori. 

“We can and must honour Te Tiriti. We can ensure Māori have the tino rangatiratanga promised to them by prioritising support over punishment. We can choose to end poverty by taxing wealth and providing everyone with a guaranteed income, no matter how tough times get. 

“We can ensure warm affordable housing for all by prioritising public housing over the pockets of wealthy landlords. 

“We can empower our communities by embracing Te Tirti and the essence of partnership it embodies. The time is now for Te Tiriti justice,” says Marama Davidson.  

Source: Green Party

Today’s Budget will lead our transport network down a road of more emissions and more misery. 

“The Coalition Government is stuck in a time warp, obsessed with building a handful of expensive highways to take us back to the past with them,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Transport, Julie Anne Genter. 

“New Zealand has had an unbalanced transport budget for decades. The vast majority of the transport budget has been going to roads, that’s why so many people have to use a car to get anywhere. 

“Funnelling an additional $1 billion from this Budget into roads of National Party significance is ridiculous and irresponsible. This will result in huge costs for our climate and our people. 

“”We will be paying back these projects for decades, just to wind up stuck in traffic again. Investments that improve public transport, walking and biking cost far less, and have higher benefits – unlike vanity roading projects.”

“The investment in rail is necessary to keep our metro networks in Auckland and Wellington functional, but that is all. Overall, this Budget contains a woeful lack of new investment in low-carbon and low-cost ways of moving people and goods.

“Investment in roads over everything else robs New Zealanders of the resilient transport system they deserve, and pours more petrol on the climate crisis fire. 

“Owning and maintaining a car is very expensive for people – yet they have no other alternative when we neglect investing in the alternatives, like public transport networks, and safe walking and biking routes to schools for our kids. 

“The Government is displaying short-term thinking by neglecting to invest adequately in upgrading shipping and port infrastructure as well as rail freight connections. So much for a government that says it wants to help business get moving, says Julie Anne Genter.

“This government wants to drive New Zealand back to the 1950s where simply adding lanes to urban highways guides our response to congestion – instead of moving people and goods more efficiently. This approach makes our necessary transition to a more resilient transport system with sustainable alternatives so much harder,” says Julie Anne Genter.

Source: Green Party

The Government’s bloody-minded commitment to delivering trickle-down tax cuts at all costs comes at the expense of investment in people and planet. 

“The Government has today pledged their allegiance to inequality through an unfair and unproductive tax system,” says Green Party co-leader and Finance spokesperson, Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“While their Fiscal Strategy says they are committed to a more productive economy, they have made decisions to entrench a tax system that does the opposite. Once again, they’ve cherry-picked statements from the IMF and OECD, ignoring both of their recent pleas to tax capital gains.

“When the Government says their aim is growth, we must ask the question of who pays for that growth, and who pockets the gains.

“They’ve handed $2.9 billion in tax cuts to landlords, which our Reserve Bank says will only serve to make housing more expensive and arguably removes the incentive for new builds.

“A year ago, the IRD told us the wealthiest 311 families pay less than half the effective tax rate of the average New Zealander and hold more wealth than the bottom two and a half million New Zealanders. That’s not an accident.

“It’s a direct consequence of political decisions, like those made by the Government today, to keep these unfair settings in place.

“It’s cake for those at the top, crumbs for almost everyone else – and nothing at all for those struggling to get by on benefits, which the Government has already cut planned increases for, knowing they’ll push between 7,000-13,000 kids into poverty.

“Somehow even worse than that, these choices increase the cost of housing, helping funnel any pretense of these trickle-down tax cuts into the pockets of those who are enabled to gamble on housing.

“Meanwhile, an average family of four would have received an extra $288 each week under the Green Party’s tax plan compared to the Government’s $126.

“The Greens campaigned unapologetically on ensuring the wealthiest pay their fair share. If we did that, we could introduce a tax-free bracket for income below $10,000, fund meaningful climate action, build tens of thousands of public houses, decarbonise and reduce energy costs for homes, make dental care free and invest in the infrastructure we all rely on,” says Chlöe Swarbrick. 

Source: Green Party

Actions speak louder than words and this Government’s attack on the climate will ripple through generations, says the Green Party. 

“The other day, Government parties said, ‘Drill, baby, drill,’ and today, they may as well have said, ‘burn, baby, burn’,” says Green Party co-leader and climate spokesperson, Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“This Government has slashed and burned almost all climate and environmentally minded policy whilst pouring coal, oil and gas over the roaring climate crisis fire. Today’s Budget has seen funding from almost every major programme in the Emissions Reduction Plan absolutely gutted.

“What remains of climate action funding is not nearly enough to meet the scale of the climate crisis. The Minister of Climate Change needs to front up and explain how big a chasm his government has created in the emissions budgets that it signed up to, and how they plan to make up for that.

“Greenhouse Gas figures released by Stats NZ today showing further decreases in emissions are proof that the Green initiatives of the last two terms were working. Government investment in decarbonising industry together with a higher carbon price drove the reduction in industrial emissions, while the clean car discount made a big dent in our overall emissions. 

“The irony is that the Government’s plan to rely on the Emissions Trading Scheme is even more tenuous than before, because the Government has cut the funding for improving ETS market governance, meaning we risk creating a Wild West of dodgy carbon trading.

“This year’s Budget will see the climate crisis rage on unchallenged as the Government once again fails to show any commitment or urgency towards combating climate change. 

“Governments are defined by their choices and this one is choosing to bury its head in the coal.

“It has made the choice to put cynical politics ahead of people and planet, serving the short-term interests of wealthy donors over the wellbeing of all of us,” says Chlöe Swarbrick. 

Source: Green Party

The coalition Government has offered Aotearoa little hope and even less ambition in this year’s Budget. 

“Today the Government had a choice to confront the climate crisis and end poverty. It has instead chosen to slash and burn funding for climate action and punch down on people who need support,” says Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“Trickle-down tax cuts are cold comfort coming at the expense of the social contract we all rely on. This budget isn’t a vision, it’s a shredder.

“The contempt shown for people and planet today will have serious consequences for our tomorrow. Tens of thousands of New Zealanders are already mobilising against the government’s cruel and unusual agenda and they can expect this is just the beginning.

“Positive change does not just happen, it is fought for. The Green Party will continue to fight for the country and the world we all deserve,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

“The Government has chosen to preserve poverty and remain a not-so-innocent bystander to the unfolding climate crisis with an incredibly unambitious Budget for Aotearoa,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. 

“Poverty is a political choice and instead of bringing it to an end, the coalition has prioritised lining the pockets of the wealthy. The “modest” tax cuts offered to our communities are crumbs in the context of the slash-and-burn to critical public services and do nothing meaningful to shift the dial on our shameful rates of child poverty in Aotearoa.

“This Budget will leave people out in the cold and leave our planet to burn as emissions rise and our window of opportunity to combat climate change closes. 

“Aotearoa can do better. We deserve better. We have enough to go around to ensure everyone has food to eat alongside a warm place to call home.

“We can and must choose to prioritise people and planet over the profit-thirsty industry interests that seem to have hijacked the direction of this Government,” says Marama Davidson.