Category: Green Party

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.

Source: Green Party

Today, the Justice Select Committee has decided to officially open submissions for the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. 

“It is time for our communities to translate the energy harnessed over the course of the hīkoi into action, and bring their voices to the political table,” says Green Party MP for Wellington Central, Tamatha Paul.

“Making our opposition heard is crucial to upholding Te Tiriti and the deep commitment it represents to every one of us in Aotearoa. This Bill challenges the very foundations our nation was built on, we need our communities to stand up against this attempt to re-write our history. 

“Time is of the essence. The Government has only given us until January 7 to be heard on this divisive Bill. This is a chance for tangata whenua and tangata tiriti to show our unity.

“For decades, Te Tiriti has provided a framework to address injustices and build a fairer society. Our founding agreement is not about division— it’s about honouring commitments made in good faith and ensuring everyone is looked after and nobody is left behind. 

“At its core, this Bill is a reset button that will undermine generations of progress that we have made together–tangata whenua and tangata tiriti, alike.”

“In introducing this Bill, the Government has done major harm to its Treaty partners. The approach to this Bill deepens mistrust and misunderstanding while sowing the seeds of division.

“Let’s not let this moment drive us apart. Instead, let it be an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to Te Tiriti and the vision that our ancestors aspired to when they signed it,” says Tamatha Paul.

Source: Green Party

Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill.

“Tens of thousands have marched from Te Rerenga Wairua to Pōneke, with a force that has shaken the ground and filled the atmosphere with the strength of our people,” says Green Party MP for Wellington Central, Tamatha Paul.

“The energy, the power—it’s palpable here on the ground. 

“We have seen, time and again, where the current Government has led us—and it’s clear they are trying to take us down a path of division, not unity. One leader claims he wants to bring people together but supports policies that drive us further apart. Another leader throws around terms like ‘equality,’ yet seems to misunderstand its very essence. And the third? Where is he on all of this?

“Politicians come and go. Governments come and go. Te Tiriti o Waitangi endures.

“Today, we’re here to show those in power exactly where the true mana of this land lies – with the people.

“Today, we have shown that when we stand together, we are a force that cannot be ignored. We carry the voices, the hopes, and the future of Aotearoa. The power of the people is alive and unstoppable, and we are here to make that loud and clear. Toitū Te Tiriti!” says Tamatha Paul.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party is voicing serious concerns over the Government’s proposal to charge for access to public conservation land, released today.

“Commercialising our environment risks transforming nature from being accessible to all to a privilege afforded to a select few,” says Green Party Spokesperson for Environment, Lan Pham.

“Aotearoa’s parks, forests, and wildlife are taonga—treasures—that everyone should enjoy. We should be investing in a conservation system which protects our unique natural ecosystems for generations to come.

“This proposal, however, takes us down a troubling path where access to nature and conservation are being pulled into this Government’s relentless cycle of commercialisation. We should be encouraging people to access nature, not creating barriers to block them from enjoying it. 

“Instead of prioritising trickle-down tax cuts and treating our natural world as a business, the Government should prioritise investment in conservation so future generations will be able to enjoy our environment.

“Last week we learned DOC has had to resort to calling for private donations for specific causes, such as protecting rare limestone ecosystems, and the critically endangered Alborn skink and tara iti (New Zealand fairy tern). Conservation is not a charity; it is a bottom line. 

“This piecemeal approach risks turning New Zealand’s conservation priorities into a pick-and-choose catalogue, dictated by private interests rather than comprehensive, government-backed stewardship.

“The Government’s proposals also include some extremely concerning suggestions for the conservation system–such as exchanging public conservation land. 

“The Green Party urges the government to fully resource DOC, enabling free and equal access for all to the lands that support all of our mental and physical wellbeing,” says Lan Pham.

Note: Submissions on the Government’s proposal close on 28 Feb 2025 and the Green Party is encouraging the public to submit their thoughts

Source: Green Party

The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. 

“Today a majority of powerful people prioritised cynical politics, fanning the flame of a culture war, over the truth and the needs of our nation,” says Green Co-Leader, Chlöe Swarbrick.

“The Prime Minister has told us that there’s nothing that he likes about this Bill, calling it ‘divisive’ himself. He has told us the National Party do not support this Bill, as did every other National MP who spoke today. Then they whipped their MPs to vote against what their consciences were telling them.

“You are what you do, and today Government MPs showed us who they are. When you wear the mask for a while, it becomes your face.

“Politicians come and go. Governments come and go. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is forever.

“Yesterday, the Harbour Bridge literally swayed with the power of the people as thousands marched for Te Tiriti, and for a system of governance that supports people and planet, instead of exploiting both at the same time.

“Despite the best efforts of some to divide our nation, people are organising themselves against this Government in unity on a scale that I have never seen in my lifetime.

“The Greens are more hopeful than ever about the future we can and will create together. Toitū Te Tiriti!” says Chlöe Swarbrick.