Category: Green Party

Source: Green Party

The National-led Government’s plans to arbitrarily increase benefit sanctions will have a lasting impact on the people who need our support the most.

“Today’s announcement confirms the Government’s goal of pushing more people into poverty via benefit sanctions,” says the Green Party spokesperson for Social Development and Employment, Ricardo Menéndez March. 

“Sanctions do not work. They do not support people into meaningful employment, nor support them to participate fully in their communities. Taking away people’s incomes only makes it harder for people to get by.

“This Government is quickly building a legacy of cruelty. Instead of supporting people to provide for themselves and their whānau, this Government has actively sought to push people further and further into poverty.

“Now, today, we have yet another measure to penalise the poorest people. It is a symptom of the politics of cruelty that is driving this coalition’s policies and steering New Zealand backwards.

“For years, successive governments have been imposing requirements that make people’s lives harder – instead of the tailored support people need to find a job or retrain.  After more than a decade of running work-readiness workshops, there is no decisive evidence to show they actually support people into good employment. Penalising people who are struggling does nothing to create decent jobs. 

“We can prevent the further entrenchment of poverty across Aotearoa by lifting income support, adequately supporting families who transition into employment and ensuring disabled people are treated with respect and dignity.

“The Green Party has been the only political party who has consistently stood against benefit sanctions and we will fight to ensure everybody has what they need to thrive. Bold and permanent solutions to lift people out of poverty exist. We just need the Government to do it,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.

Source: Green Party

The Prime Minister’s State of the Nation speech today was a buffet of buzzwords with a nasty undertone of cuts to investment in communities and nature, the Green Party said.

“Christopher Luxon is obsessed with cutting, cancelling, and disestablishing things but he has no plan to build, invest, or create a better Aotearoa,” said Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson.

“Every day, Christopher Luxon’s government takes steps backwards instead of fronting up to lay out a vision and a plan to address the true challenges we face as a country.

“The Prime Minister seems fixated on punishing people on the lowest incomes. Harsh sanctions for people on income support will cruelly increase poverty.

“It’s beginning to be clear that by complaining instead of proposing solutions, the new Prime Minister is laying the groundwork for radical right-wing reforms and cuts to core public services, when what Aotearoa needs is investment in the wellbeing of communities, the protection of nature, and climate action.

“The Prime Minister has no plan to tackle the climate crisis and didn’t say the words ‘climate change’ once today, even as this week’s Port Hills fire reminded us of the danger of unchecked climate change. 

“He didn’t say the word ‘poverty’, even after new analysis from the Salvation Army highlighted the persistent challenge of making sure everyone has enough to live with decency. Instead, he threatened more cuts to income support for people who need it the most.

“He didn’t mention Te Tiriti o Waitangi, presumably because he knows the social division being sown by his coalition partners is harmful and unpopular.

“We have everything we need in Aotearoa to ensure communities and nature thrive. The Green Party will continue to challenge the coalition government to focus on what’s really important,” Marama Davidson said.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party supports The Waitangi Tribunal holding a priority kaupapa inquiry into climate change policy.

“We applaud the collective action taken by Climate Justice Taranaki to take climate change to the Waitangi Tribunal for an urgent inquiry. And we stand by their claim that the Crown is breaching Te Tiriti o Waitangi failing to protect Te Iwi Māori from climate change impacts.” says Green Party Māori Development Spokesperson, Hūhana Lyndon.

“The Government is willing to trash our taiao to pay for their tax cuts – raiding the climate emergency response fund, cutting transport projects that reduce emissions, like public transport and bike lanes, and ending the oil and gas ban. For too long, legacy parties have played politics with our planet – favouring polluting industries at the expense of protecting communities and the planet. Aotearoa is not willing to accept this. 

“As kaitiaki of te taiao, we have consistently seen tangata whenua at the forefront, advocating for our communities in the wake of climate-change powered disasters, in Auckland, Te Tairawhiti, and the Hawke’s Bay. We know tangata whenua are more likely to be impacted by climate change than other New Zealanders.

“A better future is possible, one where our tamariki swim in clean waters, gather kai moana and live in harmony with the natural world. There is no time to waste, we must act now to ensure a thriving taiao for our mokopuna and future generations. Honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our future – for people and planet.” says Hūhana Lyndon.

Source: Green Party

Today’s Salvation Army’s State of the Nation Report shows clearly why politics matters. Only the Green Party has a plan to end poverty. We have what we need to ensure all whānau and tamariki have what they need to live a good life.

“Political parties should always be judged on the difference they make to people’s lives. Today’s Salvation Army report is an indictment of successive governments. Politics to the bigger parties seems to be more about taking turns at running the country than it does about guaranteeing everyone has enough to live on,” says co-leader of the Green Party and spokesperson for child poverty reduction, Marama Davidson. 

“The message from today’s report could not be any clearer: Labour and National’s politics of indifference have failed. It has failed our tamariki, it has failed our communities, and it has failed our country. 

“It’s not as if thousands of children have been going hungry only since the election last October. Children have been going hungry, most especially Māori and Pacific, for many, many years; a stain on the record of every government of the last few decades.

“It is also true that the 311 families, who hold more wealth than the bottom two and half million New Zealanders, haven’t accumulated this in only the last few months. There has been enough money tied up in untaxed wealth to lift every single family in this country out of poverty for as long as anyone can remember. What is glaringly obvious though, is that neither Labour or National have had the political courage to use it. 

“There have been tables without food, bedrooms without beds, and children without shoes for decades. There is no doubt that the last government was on the right track, but it still fell a long way short of what is needed. For decades, the Green Party has been the only party with the courage and ideas to end poverty. 

“What angers me right now is that the situation now is only going to get worse under the current government. Food banks and charities have become New Zealand’s last line of defence against poverty. Which makes it even harder to fathom how any politician can come to work each day knowing that they are going to make life harder for thousands of people. 

“How can a Minister read a report like this one today and think to themselves “I know what. We’ll cut people’s incomes”? Any government with a modicum of compassion would guarantee that the minimum rates of benefit will cover life’s basic costs. But not National. No, they’d rather people who depend on benefits go hungry and cold. 

“This isn’t a question of ideology, but a question of care and decency.

“This current government is entrenching inequalities between rich and poor with little debate. This week it forced through a plan to cut benefit increases for no good reason, other than to ensure there is no debate.

“It does not have to be this way. The next three years are already shaping up to be the worst in living memory for families on the lowest incomes. But I am also more committed than ever to building an Aotearoa where everyone has what they need to get by. The next three years the Green Party are fighting for the people who need us the most – and every single day matters,” says Marama Davidson.

Source: Green Party

The coalition Government has today conceded that it did not consider the impact of its benefit changes on children. 

“It is unconscionable that Cabinet Ministers took the decision to cut yearly increases to benefits, made worse by the disregard of the harm it would do to children,” says the Green Party’s social development spokesperson, Ricardo Menéndez March.

While forcing benefit changes through urgency without proper scrutiny, the Minister responsible, Louise Upston told Parliament in answer to questions from the Greens that she did not request a child impact assessment.

“What we are seeing is the familiar pattern of neglect that accompanies every National Government. This Government could not even be bothered properly assessing the impact its cruel benefit changes would have on children.

“Thousands of families will once again be left struggling to make ends meet and forced to make impossible choices between heating their home and putting food on the table.

“Every election, National ask for the support of New Zealanders, only to turn their backs as soon as they get into power where they prioritise policies to cater to the wealthiest and the most powerful.

“Everybody should have enough to cover the weekly shop, pay the rent, or cover unexpected costs – even when times are tough.

“The Green Party will continue to push to put an end to the political football of how to best increase benefits annually.

“Today, I proposed amendments that would have seen benefits and the family tax credit adjusted on an annual basis to whatever is highest between inflation and wages.

“This would have protected decent yearly increases to benefits and put an end to National and Labour bickering over which formula to use, at the expense of our communities. 

“What National is doing instead will widen the gap between what people in paid employment and people on the benefit earn.

“The Government has an opportunity to put an end to people on the benefit being scapegoated and used for political purposes by supporting our amendment and ensuring incomes rise adequately each year independent of the economic circumstances,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.

Source: Green Party

The Social Development Minister, Louise Upston’s plan to increase benefit sanctions and decrease the rate at which benefits increase each year will make life harder for thousands and push more people into hardship.

“Everybody should have a warm home to live in and enough food to put on the table, but successive Governments have chosen to set income levels below poverty levels while the rich get richer,” says the Green Party spokesperson for Social Development and Employment, Ricardo Menéndez March.

“Speaking to the media today, the Minister of Social Development confirmed her goal was to lower increases to benefits and sanction more people, leaving countless families already struggling to survive, worse off.

“Louise Upston talked of her concerns about the poor outcomes of people on the benefit, without acknowledging the fact that successive governments have set benefit levels  below the poverty line – a problem she plans to make worse. 

“The Minister also failed to acknowledge the impact of benefit sanctions on children or that people with lifelong medical conditions are made to constantly prove their conditions to the Government rather than being treated with respect and dignity”

“Benefit sanctions strip people of their legal means of survival and have never shown to support people to meet their aspirations. Instead, benefit sanctions throw people into further poverty, debt and potentially homelessness setting their lives back for many years. 

“The Greens reject Louise Upston’s policies of cruelty and instead will continue fighting to abolish sanctions and ensure everybody has enough what they need to thrive. This is how we support people to meet their aspirations and find decent employment when that is what best works for them,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.

Source: Green Party

Māori will be among the most impacted by the Government’s cruel, irrational, and senseless plan to stop funding pre-sentencing background reports.

“Today the Government has taken us even further away from a justice system that treats everyone with humanity, dignity, and respect,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for the courts, Tamatha Paul. 

“While pre-sentencing background reports are available to anyone, the ongoing and heartbreaking over-representation of Māori in our courts means that it is our people who will be hurt the most.

“For decades, governments have created a justice system that ignores drivers of crime and instead puts people in prisons with inadequate rehabilitation support. The whole point of being able to request a background report is so a judge can better understand some of the reasons that may have led to an offence happening. 

“They can cover things like substance abuse, personality disorders, neurodivergence, learning difficulties, brain injuries, poverty, and trauma – including family violence and sexual violence. 

“Right now, 60% of Māori in prison have been a victim of family violence – that’s 2,400 people. Reducing the prison population can go hand-in-hand with reducing reoffending through using more suitable community based sentences that have better rehabilitative outcome.

“Having this information at hand means sentencing and rehabilitation can be informed by the personal circumstances of the offender – and action can be taken to help prevent further offending happening again in the future. This is better for the offender themselves, for their whānau, for their community, and for Aotearoa as a whole. 

“What National won’t tell you is that without the sort of information included in a cultural report, the risk of future offending is likely to be higher than it would be otherwise. In other words, their ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric once again serves no one other than the people in power. 

“We need a government that will work toward a justice system that restores mana to our people and communities and heals the harms of intergenerational trauma. A government that will create meaningful alternatives to putting people in prison,” says Tamatha Paul. 

Source: Green Party

Stats NZ unemployment data released today further highlights the urgent need for this government to step up and provide everyone with enough to get by.

“Everyone has the right to safe, decent, and meaningful work. But when we may find ourselves without work, it is equally important for there to be a safety net in place to make sure we always have enough to put food on the table and pay the bills,” says the Green Party spokesperson for Social Development and Employment, Ricardo Menéndez March.

“Tens of thousands of people across Aotearoa are without a job – many of them with serious health conditions, or doing full time care work for small children. The day-to-day pressure they are facing is immense, particularly for those who were already living on a low income.

“It is wrong for the Government to rely on the conventional wisdom of increasing unemployment to deal with inflation, all while big companies continue recording high profits and billionaires are inadequately taxed.

“Lower-income New Zealanders who spend most of their income covering the essentials like food and rent tend to have smaller savings. So, if they do lose their job, the consequences can be devastating. 

“Right now, unemployment support in Aotearoa is seriously inadequate.

“It is unconscionable that we have 311 families in Aotearoa hoarding $85 billion in wealth, which is being taxed at less than half the effective tax of the average family, while thousands go without the essentials of life.

“Income support must be increased to a level high enough to prevent poverty, so people out of paid work are still able to pay the rent and provide food for their families.

“Last year, the Green Party campaigned on an Income Guarantee paid for by a fair tax system, which would ensure everyone in and out of work always had enough to live on.

“We will continue to lead the fight in Parliament to make sure everyone has enough to always afford the weekly shop, pay the rent, or cover unexpected costs – even when times are tough,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.

Source: Green Party

Hon James Shaw, the architect of New Zealand’s landmark climate change legislation, the Zero Carbon Act, has announced that he will be stepping down as Co-leader of the Green Party in March. He will remain in Parliament for the time being to support the Bill of Rights (Right to a Sustainable Environment) Amendment Bill.

“It has been the privilege of my lifetime to serve as New Zealand’s Climate Change Minister for the last six years and as Green Party Co-leader for nearly nine. It has been an honour to serve alongside my Co-leader, Hon Marama Davidson, her predecessor Metiria Turei, and an extraordinary Caucus of Green MPs, staff, party officials and volunteers,” says James Shaw. 

“I’m very proud of what the Green Party has achieved over the last eight years. I would like to thank Green Party members and supporters for their incredible hard work and support over that time. 

“In 2017, the Greens became a party of government, with ministers, for the first time. We also made political history by increasing our support at the end of each of our two terms – a feat no other government support partner had achieved.

“In Government, we passed the landmark Zero Carbon Act with unanimous support across Parliament, becoming one of the first countries in the world to place the Paris Agreement’s 1.5’C target in national legislation. 

“It is especially gratifying to see the Zero Carbon Act survive its first change of government. New Zealand can be proud that it has an enduring climate change framework, with long-term targets and institutions that will guide us over several decades and changes of government.

“Returning to Opposition, the Green Party now has the largest Caucus of MPs we’ve ever had, including three electorates for the first time.

“It has taken many thousands of people, in all walks of life, to achieve what we have over the near decade I’ve been Co-leader, and I would like to thank every single one of you. 

“Our historic election result in 2023 ushered in a new era for the Green Party. Now is the time for a new Co-leader to work alongside Marama to take this new Caucus into the future. 

“The Green Party will continue to lead the fight to stop the climate crisis, restore and protect our wildernesses and wildlife, eliminate poverty, and honour Te Tiriti,” says James Shaw. 

Notes

James Shaw has been Co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand since May 2015. He served as a government minister for two terms, holding the portfolios of Climate Change (2017-2023), Statistics (2017-2020), Associate Finance (2017-2020) and Associate Environment (2020-2023).

Nominations for the role of Co-leader of the Green Party will open tomorrow, Wednesday 31 January 2024 and close on Wednesday 14 February. 

Green Party members will attend local meetings, where they will vote to elect a new co-leader. 

Each branch is entitled to a certain number of votes proportionate to the number of members who live in that electorate.

The new Co-leader is expected to be announced on 10 March.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party is deeply disturbed at the Government’s decision to deploy New Zealand defence force staff to the Red Sea.

“Aotearoa New Zealand has a proud history of being a voice for peace on the global stage. Now more than ever we need that voice to be loud and strong – and our actions to be focused on de-escalation of violence, not fueling further conflict where ordinary people will be affected most. We are horrified at this Government’s decision to further inflame tensions in the Middle East by sending New Zealand Defence Force personnel to the Red Sea,” says co-leaders of the Green Party, Marama Davidson and James Shaw.

“The international community has an obligation to protect peace and human rights. Right now, what we are witnessing in the Middle East is a regional power play between different state and non-state groups. This decision is only likely to inflame tensions. It is ordinary people who want to live their lives in peace, mums and dads who just want to make sure their kids have access to meals and can go to school, who suffer the most.  

“It seems inconceivable for this government to be so dangerously naïve to say that this deployment has nothing to do with the horrific violence that continues to suffocate Gaza. The Government should be using every opportunity to push for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

“When the US asks us to support their military operation, questions need to be asked about the strategic interests the US is prioritising and whether these align with the clear support of the New Zealand people for our defence force to be focused on peacebuilding and enduring justice.

“A world without war is possible, but it requires enduring commitments by all nations to peacebuilding and diplomacy. New Zealand may be a small nation, but we must never lose focus on doing everything we can build lasting peace. All countries – including New Zealand – must urgently cooperate with UN peace efforts and step up for human rights and peace.

“The very least people should expect of their government is that if they are going to knowingly send defence force personnel into a situation that could inflame global conflict it is first debated by elected representatives. The Green Party will be seeking an urgent debate on the issue as soon as possible. We will also continue to push Ministers and officials to keep up efforts to de-escalate the conflict using whatever channels are available to the Government,” says Marama Davidson and James Shaw.