Category: Green Party

Source: Green Party

In an interview with Q&A this morning, the Prime Minister refused to say whether he would commit to meeting the Paris Agreement, the international climate agreement which commits all countries to act locally to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.

“Climate commitments aren’t numbers on a page to be toyed with at political whim. They’re hard scientific limits, requiring each country to do our bit for a liveable planet,” says Green Party Co-Leader and spokesperson for Climate Change Chlöe Swarbrick.

“This morning, Christopher Luxon basically told the nation he didn’t care, refusing to commit to meeting the promises we’ve made internationally as recently as last week with his Climate Minister at COP29.

“Change is unfortunately already locked in because of decades of political neglect. We’ve seen the consequences in ever more frequent climate change charged weather events ravaging rural and urban Aotearoa. Political leaders today are actively choosing whether to make that worse, or to act with urgency.

“When the man who styles himself a CEO focussed on targets and deliverables tells you he doesn’t want to commit to meeting the hard scientific limits for our collective survival, he’s telling you he cares more about profit than people or the planet.

“Climate change has been created by extractive, short-term economic thinking exemplified by Christopher Luxon’s so-called leadership. 

“A better world is possible.

“Next weekend the Greens will unveil our alternative Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), which will make crystal clear that we can have an economy that supports people and the planet, instead of exploiting and exhausting both,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party says the report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid-19 Response underlines the need for proper investment in our health system so we are prepared for future pandemics. 

“We need to support our health system so it’s in a position to support our communities through any future pandemics,” says the Green Party Health Spokesperson Hūhana Lyndon.

“Any future pandemic response must put the health of our people first. It is also essential that we provide our most vulnerable communities, including our Māori and Pasifika, immunocompromised, disabled, elderly whānau and young people, with the care they need. 

“However, this will be near impossible under a health system reduced to its bare bones. 

“The Commissioner has noted how he’d be concerned if he was in a country that was cutting back its public health services while a pandemic remains a possibility. Unfortunately, that is the situation we are in now.

“The report’s recommendations make clear the health system should be more resilient and prepared, and this requires adequate resourcing. That won’t happen if the Government keeps slashing and burning jobs in public health. 

“The report also highlighted that the pandemic response had glaring gaps where it related to Māori, with the disadvantages they already faced in healthcare being exacerbated in the pandemic response. We must ensure our response to future pandemics does not worsen such inequities. 

“Despite the disparities, Māori were very effective at employing local networks to provide support on the front line in various lockdown stages, which speaks to the benefits of having pandemic response strategies developed with tangata whenua. It’s critical that Māori are included in all phases of the response. 

“The Government must begin to build an equitable health system that prioritises our most vulnerable communities and is well prepared to weather future pandemics,” says Hūhana Lyndon.

Source: Green Party

The Government’s directive to councils to increase bus and train fares substantially over the next few years is a bitter pill to swallow for communities across the country.

“Increasing the price to use public transport will be a disaster,” says the Green Party’s Transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter.

“Aotearoa was once a country where buses, electric trams and passenger trains were affordable, accessible, and available right across the country. It can be again.  

“The Coalition Government is now forcing public transport fares up further, adding more pressure on families and young people already struggling to make ends meet. 

“The Government’s changes to public transport could result in fares more than doubling in some regions. This comes after they cancelled free and half-price public transport for children and young people earlier this year. 

“It’s bad for the climate, bad for our cities, and it hurts those on low incomes most of all.

“This directive will make it much harder and more expensive for people to get around their towns and cities.

“It will also force some people to use cars instead, which means more traffic, air pollution and emissions.

“It makes no sense, when we must collectively reduce emissions, and when the economy is still reeling from layoffs and cancelled projects, to increase public transport fares. 

“Actions speak louder than words. Simeon Brown’s agenda is the opposite of climate action and is completely out of touch with what our cities need.  

“The Coalition Government must commit to funding a public transport network for the benefit of everyone in this country and for the good of the planet,” says Julie Anne Genter.

Source: Green Party

Support staff across Aotearoa have been dealt yet another devastating blow with the release of the latest collective agreement offer from the Government.

The proposed settlement offers a 0% pay increase to the vast majority of staff and caps increases for others at a mere 1.25%. On top of this, no commitments have been made on critical issues such as sick leave, job security, professional learning and development, or mileage.

“This appalling offer is a slap in the face to the essential support staff who keep our schools running,” says the Green Party’s Education Spokesperson, Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan.

“These staff members are essential to the education, care, and stewardship of our tamariki and rangatahi every single day. Today’s offer shows how little the government values their contribution.

“This offer doesn’t just fall short; it outright dismisses the value of education as a fundamental public good. We cannot continue to treat the public services we all rely on as a business with constant cost and corner-cutting. This approach will come at a serious expense to our communities. 

“This offer speaks to the lack of care and consideration this Government has for anything that isn’t tax cuts for the wealthy. Prioritising trickle-down tax cuts at the expense of our schools, children, and communities sets a dangerous precedent. 

“The Green Party stands with support staff in their call for a fair and equitable resolution that reflects the essential role they play in the education sector. It’s time for the government to put words into action and invest in the future of tamariki in Aotearoa by respecting and properly compensating the staff who support them,” says Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan.

NOTES:

• The pay increase offer amounts to a zero increase to members on all bands who would otherwise receive a step increase during the next three years. Those who are at the maximum available step/grade, and those at the bottom (Grade A Step 1) of the teacher aide scale, are being offered 1.25% + 1% + 1% each year for a three-year term.
• Under this offer, the majority of aides would get nothing more for the next three years than they would receive anyway through annual progression. For example, more than 85% of teacher aides would not receive a pay rise under the Government’s offer.
• The Ministry has advised that aides should view their annual salary progression steps as their ‘pay rise’.

Source: Green Party

The Government has passed legislation to remove agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while Aotearoa’s reputation on climate action plummets. 

“While our Climate Minister is on the other side of the world telling the UN climate conference about the need to act, at home, his Government is ramming through law to delay and deny that very action,” says Green Party Co-Leader and spokesperson for Climate Change, Chlöe Swarbrick, who is currently attending COP29. 

“The world isn’t stupid – and that’s why this Government’s choices are seeing us slip down the ranks. 

“The Climate Change Performance Index points out the 2023 change of government and its policy decisions are why New Zealand is tumbling down the global climate rankings. Whether it’s the repeal of the oil and gas ban or kicking the can down the road on agricultural emissions, Luxon’s Government is denying science and leadership. 

“This is a national embarrassment, global disgrace and existential threat. 

“The Government can’t farm its responsibility out to unproven technology – unicorn kisses, as one of their own Ministers likes to talk about – and ‘the market’, which their own advice says will cost lowest income New Zealanders four times as much as the wealthiest.

“This fight is no longer about a faraway future, but our world today. The good news is New Zealanders are refusing to have the wool pulled over their eyes on this Government’s regressive agenda and are connecting the dots.

“Climate justice is Te Tiriti justice is economic justice.

“We can have meaningful action that reduces emissions and the cost of living while improving all of our lives.

“Christopher Luxon’s Government is relying on people’s exhaustion and disenfranchisement – and as the mobilising in the last week is proving, New Zealanders are starting to roundly reject that strategy,” says Chlöe Swarbrick. 

Source: Green Party

As legislation to set up boot camps passed its first reading, the Green Party urged the Government to abandon this failed policy experiment for the good of our rangatahi.

“We risk repeating a shameful part of our history and ruining the lives of our rangatahi by bringing back boot camps,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Justice, Tamatha Paul.

“Our rangatahi need and deserve opportunities and support through their formative years so they can realise their full potential. 

“Boot camps are simply another shallow attempt by this Government to win votes by appearing tough on crime at the expense of our communities. We know from past iterations of boot camps that they fail to help rangatahi turn their lives around and instead make things worse. Yet this Government is ploughing on anyway. 

“The red flags around the boot camp policy are alarming, including a lack of safeguards around its military-style settings and the fact this legislation is being introduced before the pilot has even been evaluated. Just today we learnt that one young person in the pilot may have reoffended. This shows the shortcomings of this military-style approach. 

“Have we not learnt anything from the Royal Inquiry into Abuse in State Care? There was a whole chapter on boot camps. Children endured horrendous abuse at the hands of people who were supposed to be protecting them.

“The Government apologised this month for abuse in state care but has ignored the resounding call from survivors to close the bootcamps. This makes that apology empty. 

“The vast majority of young people who end up in the youth justice system have faced abuse or serious neglect, with backgrounds of trauma, poverty, mental health problems, learning disabilities and lack of support. 

“We know what works for youth crime because we’ve done it before. Community wrap-around support services for at-risk youth were working well to reduce repeat offending before the Government cut their contracts,” says Tamatha Paul.

Source: Green Party

The Ministry of Health has today released an evidence brief regarding the use of puberty blockers in gender-affirming healthcare, amid moves by the government to limit access. 

“Trans rights are human rights and our trans whānau deserve access to critical healthcare,” says Green Party spokesperson for Rainbow Communities, Kahurangi Carter.

“Today, ACT have espoused some incredibly transphobic rhetoric that aims to cause harm and division. We need to do better for our young people than spread misinformation and resort to scare tactics.

“At the end of the day, the Ministry’s position statement reaffirms what should be expected of all medical treatments and outlines how gender-affirming care is already delivered –‘an interprofessional team offering a full range of supports to young people presenting with gender identity issues.’

“This position statement highlights the importance of comprehensive care for those navigating these complex and personal decisions.

“However, meaningful action must go beyond statements. New Zealand urgently needs to resource and promote clear pathways for timely, free, and non-discriminatory access to all forms of gender-affirming healthcare. 

“That care must centre informed consent and self-determination, ensuring that every young person has the support they need to thrive.

“Attempts to limit access to gender-affirming care risk undermining the well-being of trans and non-binary youth, whose voices and experiences have been clear: affirming care saves lives.

“New Zealand has an opportunity to lead with compassion and evidence. What’s needed now is a commitment to support our rainbow communities by delivering equitable, accessible healthcare based on science and empathy—not political posturing,” says Kahurangi Carter.

Source: Green Party

The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. 

“Poverty is a political choice, one that this Government is choosing for our children,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Child Poverty Reduction, Ricardo Menéndez March. 

“Every child deserves to get the possible start in life. We can and we must eliminate child poverty. The good news is that we have the resources to make this happen. The bad news is that this Government doesn’t care. 

“The Government has decided to turn its back on our children by watering down its child poverty targets and now by removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus. Louise Upston’s justification for this is a joke, but child poverty is no laughing matter. 

“It is ridiculous for Minister Upston to justify removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus because she wants to address material hardship when she is doing the exact opposite. She is making matters worse. 

“The prevalence of mould and damp in houses as well as food insecurity have also been removed from child poverty-related indicators. This strategy is shallow and shameful. 

“This Government believes what gets measured is what matters. Their changes to the child poverty-related indicators could have children going hungry and living in terrible housing while showing up as fine in their new measures. This is blatant cruelty. 

“Minister Upston and her colleagues in cruelty have chosen to allow more children to live in poverty by cutting benefit increases, removing public transport and prescription subsidies and slowing down the building of public housing. 

“Instead of shifting the goalposts and watering down our targets, the Government needs to commit to taking child poverty seriously. We cannot afford to allow more and more children every year to fall into poverty, our children deserve so much better from us.   

“The Green Party would guarantee liveable incomes for whanau, while investing in the support networks that communities need to ensure children have all their rights met – even when times are tough,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.

Source: Green Party

The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. 

“This decision is cruel and cuts against the grain of our values as a nation,” says the Green Party’s Animal Welfare spokesperson, Steve Abel.

“Animals deserve a life free from suffering. Harmful practices that put profit ahead of their welfare are unacceptable.

“The reality is that live export, by its nature, cannot uphold any such standards, and this move contravenes both the spirit and the letter of New Zealand’s own Animal Welfare Act. 

“Leading animal welfare organisations and experts have long condemned live exports due to the appalling conditions animals endure during transit, their uncertain fate upon arrival in countries with far lower welfare standards than we would accept here, and the repeated sinkings which have claimed the lives of crew and thousands of animals.

“New Zealanders were promised a transparent submissions process to discuss the trade’s future. Instead, the Government opted for limited, “targeted engagement,” largely behind closed doors, effectively silencing widespread opposition. This is policymaking by stealth.

“The rest of the world is moving away from live export of farmed animals, with bans recently announced in the UK and Australia. Doubling down on a practice widely viewed as cruel and archaic is a severe step backwards.

“How can the Government claim to respect animal welfare when it is willing to subject animals to such prolonged suffering for profit? On every level, it’s a national disgrace.

“This government has bought into the industry spin of ‘gold-standards’. The only certainty for animal welfare is keeping the ban on live exports. This is something we will continue to fight for,” says Steve Abel.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

• The majority of New Zealanders oppose the resumption of this trade. A survey of the New Zealand public commissioned by SPCA found that only 19 per cent of respondents thought the ban should be overturned. Not even farmers want it back–56 per cent of farmers supported keeping the ban in place.
• The hard won ban took effect in April, 2023.
• In the years immediately preceding the New Zealand live export ban, there were two large live export disasters: 

• 1. 2022: New Zealand, 12,300 cattle; MV Al Kuwait. Ship broke down enroute to pick up cattle waiting in pre-export isolation – cattle stranded and welfare problems reported

• 1. 2020: New Zealand; 6,000 pregnant cows; Gulf Livestock 1. Ship capsized – death by drowning

Source: Green Party

Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law.

“This is a huge, historic win for Pasifika Justice, one that offers our country an opportunity for healing,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Pacific Peoples, Teanau Tuiono.

The legislation restores the right to citizenship for people from Western Samoa who despite being eligible for New Zealand citizenship were stripped of that right due to a cruel and targeted law in 1982.

“Those affected people will be eligible for citizenship as of right, instead of having to go through the standard residency and citizenship application processes. Successful applicants will also be refunded for the costs involved in the process.

“More significantly, an injustice has been addressed and this anti-Pasifika, discriminatory law has been struck from our books. This offers us all, not just those directly affected but also the wider community, a chance for healing as we reconcile with the wrongs of our country’s past.

“This Bill couldn’t have made it through without the intergenerational efforts of the Samoan community who mobilised for extensive consultations and came to share their stories with the Parliament select committee. This is what people power looks like. 

“I also mihi to the cross-party efforts of MPs in deliberating on this Bill in good faith. MPs listened to the voice of constituents and understood the need for justice.

“This has been a special week at Parliament. Yesterday, we saw the immense hope of people power with the Hīkoi against the Treaty Principles Bill. Today, we see how MPs of different political stripes can work together to fix injustice. More wins are possible when we all work together. 

“I hope this law change goes some way towards atoning for the mistreatment the Samoan community was subject to. It follows on from the Dawn Raids apology as another big step on the journey of healing that our country had to embark on,” says Teanau Tuiono.

Additional information:

• New Zealand citizenship wasn’t created until 1948. Before then, New Zealanders were British subjects

• At the time citizenship was created, New Zealand was administering present day Samoa (known until 1997 as Western Samoa)

• In 1982, Falema‘i Lesa, a Samoan citizen living in New Zealand, was prosecuted for overstaying. She argued she wasn’t overstaying, as she said she was a New Zealand citizen.

• The Privy Council ruled that, because earlier NZ legislation had treated those born in Western Samoa after 13 May 1924 as “natural-born British subjects” for the purposes of NZ law, that cohort of people received NZ citizenship when NZ established its own citizenship in 1948. 

• The Muldoon Government acted swiftly and in 1982 passed the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982. 

• The 1982 Act removed NZ citizenship from those people who, under the earlier NZ legislation, had NZ citizenship because they were born in Western Samoa between 13 May 1924 and 1 January 1949, and those claiming citizenship through those people by descent or marriage. 

• The Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Act would mean that a person whose NZ citizenship was removed by the 1982 Act will be eligible for citizenship as of right, instead of having to go through the standard residency and citizenship application processes.