Category: Green Party

Source: Green Party

The Green Party was appalled to hear Prime Minister Christopher Luxon claim we are “doing everything we can” on climate change, while his government does nothing to address emissions in our most polluting sector. 

“Christopher Luxon’s commitment to climate action is a national disgrace and global embarrassment,” says the Green Party Spokesperson for Agriculture, Steve Abel.

“Agriculture is the biggest emitting sector in Aotearoa – accounting for more than half of our emissions. Luxon has done everything he can to make matters worse in these areas, selling out to big dairy at the expense of people and planet. 

“While Luxon tries to pivot towards electricity emissions, the cow in the room remains big dairy — agricultural emissions are more than 15 times higher than electricity emissions. Luxon is patting himself on the back while pouring oil, gas and superheating methane all over the already raging climate crisis. 

“Leaving agriculture in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would have been the bare minimum, however, the Government chose to do the complete opposite and remove it from the ETS altogether, further delaying critical action. Delay is the new denial and falls significantly short of ‘doing everything we can.’

“Luxon saying that he believes in climate change, then doing all the things that make it worse, has the same effect as denying climate change in the first place. 

“Not only has this government ensured agriculture stays out of the ETS until 2030, but they have weakened Fresh-Water protections which does nothing to address high dairy cow stocking rates and fertiliser use that results in both increased emissions and contaminated drinking water.  

“The existential challenge of our time requires politicians to step up and make decisions for the greater good of everyone — not cave to cynical industry interests at the cost of the stable climate that sustains our food production in the first place.

“There is so much more Luxon could be doing, and he knows this. Climate action warrants bold reforms, starting with our most potent emitters,” says Steve Abel.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

The latest Emissions Reduction Plan shows that agriculture is responsible for 53 per cent of emissions (half of which comes from dairy) while electricity generation accounts for just 3.5 per cent. 

Source (page 23)

Source: Green Party

The Green Party acknowledges the historical importance of MP Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill, passing its second reading in Parliament today. 

“Today marks another momentous step on our journey towards justice in Aotearoa,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Pacific Peoples, Teanau Tuiono.

Teanau Tuiono’s Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill would restore the right to citizenship for people from Western Samoa who were born between 1924 and 1949, fixing a cruel and targeted law from the 80s. 

“With each step we are getting closer to righting a deeply unjust and unfair wrong. 

“I am heartened by the will of MPs across the political divide to correct the historical injustice by which the New Zealand Government in 1982 stripped citizenship from thousands of Samoans. 

“That right to citizenship was taken away from them despite the Privy Council finding earlier that year that under New Zealand law they were entitled to citizenship.

“The progress of this Bill so far couldn’t have been achieved without the inter-generational efforts of the Samoan community who shared their stories with the select committee.

“Among those in the public gallery today were members of the very community whose right to citizenship was removed. I hope the passage of my Bill goes some way to atoning for past wrongs by the state.

“It is well past time to amend this law and put things right,” 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 Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 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

The Green Party is calling for Youth Justice Residences to close, following a protest in which a group of young people spent the night on the roof of an Oranga Tamariki justice facility.

“Rangatahi deserve more than child prisons and military bootcamps. They deserve opportunities,” says the Green Party Spokesperson for Youth, Tamatha Paul.

“Instead of punching down on our most vulnerable, we should be providing our rangatahi with meaningful life opportunities, healthcare that addresses their needs, but most importantly, the love and care that they have never, ever had in their short lives. 

“The Greens are calling for an end to Youth Justice Residences and military-style bootcamps. Our young people deserve a system which sets them up to rebuild their lives, not to be confined to prisons which perpetuate trauma, isolation and violence

“There are young people out there who cannot imagine a life for themselves outside of prison walls, and that is a failure of successive governments, and a moral failure of our society.

“I have visited these youth justice residences and can confirm that they are child prisons. They are filled with the most vulnerable rangatahi in our country who have come from extreme levels of poverty and family abuse.

“What’s happened at Korowai Manaaki is not a unique situation. Years of research and experience shows that youth justice residences are re-traumatising and ineffective. 

“When the Office of the Children’s Commissioner reported on Korowai Manaaki recently, they revealed inappropriate and deeply troubling practices within the residences. Unfortunately, this culture can be seen across the youth justice space in Aotearoa and is a product of politicians who put winning votes above the real needs of children.

“The young people leaving these residences do not feel empowered or able to turn their lives around which leads to a lifetime of incarceration and a complete loss of human potential. It’s time to close them down.” says Tamatha Paul.

Source: Green Party

Despite resounding public opposition, the fast-track legislation is being pushed through Parliament with provisions that could have real consequences for people and planet.

“More than 90 per cent of submitters opposed this Bill. People know that the fast track will derail our environment,” says the Green Party Spokesperson for the Environment Lan Pham.

“Our well-being is intertwined with the environment. By looking after nature, we look after ourselves. We need to move on from the archaic, exploitative and extractive approach that has already seen us lose so much.

“We came to the table with a range of amendments to entrench environmental protections and ensure the voices of New Zealanders were considered, but every single one was rejected.

“Among the amendments dismissed outright were those that would have upheld environmental protections, introduced Te Tiriti considerations, given the public an opportunity to be consulted and protected the rights of current consent holders. This is the bare minimum. 

“Huge public outcry has been blatantly ignored, and overwhelming opposition has been swept aside. 

“This rushed process has silenced communities and is quite clearly ignoring evidence. 

“The Green Party will continue to fight for the environment and a liveable future for all. Decisions about our land, waters and resources must be made transparently, and with the voices of our communities and health of our environment front of mind.

“Instead of fast-tracking short-term financial gains, we believe in a process that prioritises the long-term wellbeing: of our people, our waters and our land,” says Lan Pham.

Source: Green Party

Sanctions on beneficiaries have sky-rocketed since the Coalition Government came to power, pushing more families into poverty.

“This heartless Government has more than doubled benefit sanctions, stripping people of their dignity and ability to put food on the table,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Social Development and Employment, Ricardo Menéndez March.

“People deserve to live in dignity, they deserve to be supported in times of need. We can afford to look after one another, all that is missing is the political will. 

“Families living in poverty deserve more than smoke and mirrors from Louise Upston who is refusing to address child poverty while introducing more ways to push beneficiaries into hardship.  

“Benefit sanctions for missing an appointment have almost tripled. This is quite clearly not about supporting people into work but depriving people in need of the means to survive. 

“The Government has turned its back on our communities in need, adding fuel to the fire when it comes to growing inequality and widening poverty. 

“The Prime Minister may be ‘wealthy’ and ‘sorted’ but a lot of people out there are struggling. It is time he woke up to this reality and started doing something about it.  

“A Green Government will overturn this cruel system of sanctions that only makes life harder for beneficiaries and their whanau. 

“We would instead guarantee liveable incomes for all, and provide tailored support to connect people to employment that provides secure hours, decent wages and helps them meet their aspirations,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.

Source: Green Party

Today’s report from the International Energy Agency highlights how far this Government’s actions are dragging us backwards in the fight against climate change. 

“Luxon’s decision to pour fossil fuel on the climate crisis fire actively undermines not only energy security and resilience, but a climate-safe future,” says Green Party Co-Leader and spokesperson for Climate Change Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“Today the International Energy Agency issued its annual energy outlook with the key message: energy security and climate action are inextricably linked. 

“The IEA have once again underscored that efficient, cleaner energy systems reduce energy security risks. 

“Unfortunately, we have a Government operating in half-truths, weaponising the energy crisis created by reliance on fossil fuels and incentivised by profit-at-all-costs to somehow justify reinforcing and worsening those very settings.

“The Prime Minister and his Government have tied themselves in knots with the tentacles of the fossil fuel industry, lifting the oil and gas ban, tearing through pristine biodiversity with more coal mines and opening our shores to LNG imports. These actions actively undermine a clean, green transition which is not only critical for a stable climate, but a resilient energy system too.

“A better world is possible. Affordable, more reliable, renewable and resilient energy distribution is possible. Communities across Aotearoa New Zealand want and deserve it. The Greens will continue to fight to deliver that future owed to all of us,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

Source: Green Party

Stats NZ has confirmed that higher rent prices were the biggest contributor to the annual inflation rate. Almost a fifth of the 2.2 per cent annual increase in the CPI was due to rent prices. 

“Housing is a human right, but this Government is treating it like a game of Monopoly,” says the Green Party’s Housing spokesperson, Tamatha Paul. 

“Everyone deserves a warm and affordable place to call home. We have everything we need to make this happen. All we need to do is start treating housing as the public good it really is instead of exploiting it for profit. 

“Successive governments have turned housing into a business venture, locking people out from having a home while a privileged few benefit at the expense of everybody else. 

“The current landlord Government has only inflamed the situation by handing landlords $2.9 billion in tax cuts while punching down on renters with no cause evictions and allowing rents to spiral out of control.  

“The current system is forcing people into making the impossible choice of either buying essentials like food or paying rent. 

“The Government is entrenching the imbalance between tenant and landlord to the point where people are too afraid to ask for leaks to be fixed or smoke alarms to be replaced out of fear of being kicked out of their home. 

“We deserve better than this. We need rent controls which will limit the amount that landlords can increase rent and how often they can do this. We also need a Rental Warrant of Fitness to ensure quality, and for the Government to commit to building more public housing to make sure that our most marginalised and vulnerable can also have affordable, secure homes.

“Everyone deserves to live in a warm and healthy home,” says Tamatha Paul. 

Source: Green Party

The Green Party has condemned the Government’s late change to allow commercial fishing in protected areas in the Hauraki Gulf.

“This Government has bent over backwards to give fishing lobbyists exactly what they asked for, in an area of precious biodiversity facing ecological collapse,” says the Green Party Spokesperson for the Environment, Lan Pham. 

“Healthy marine environments are the lifeblood of our planet. We can have healthy and thriving fisheries and marine life – now and in the future – if we give fish stocks a chance to recover. 

“The Auckland and wider Hauraki Gulf community alongside iwi and hapū have worked hard for many years to develop a framework for protecting the health of the Gulf, under the guidance of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, but this coalition comes along and rides roughshod over that mahi at the whim of commercial fishing.

“To exempt commercial fishing from the provisions in the Hauraki Gulf Protection Bill means the Government is prepared to allow stocks of various fish and marine species to tip over the edge into extinction.

“The Minister’s spin about ‘significant protection’ should fool nobody. The Government is backtracking on marine conservation goals long established through community consensus, placing the ecological health of Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana at grave risk.

“This is how the Luxon Government approaches lawmaking – erode the agency of community-driven consensus, particularly where it relates to the environment – in order to line the pockets of their industry mates.

“The Bill had been supported unanimously by coalition parties at the Environment Select Committee, with careful consideration of different uses of the Gulf. So to come in at the last minute and exempt commercial fishing in this backhanded manner is another undemocratic trait of this Government.

“Be it tobacco, fossil fuels, seabed mining or fisheries, this Government has made it crystal clear that the rules which apply to everyone else in our democratic and legislative processes don’t apply to industry and companies who have the ear of ministers. 

“New Zealanders deserve a government that acts in the interests of our whole community, not the lobbyists with the deepest pockets,” says Lan Pham.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party has welcomed news that MP Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill has moved forward with unanimous support from the select committee. 

“This is a significant step forward and a monumental milestone for Pasifika justice in Aotearoa,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Pacific Peoples, Teanau Tuiono.

“Today, Parliament’s Governance and Administration Select Committee reported my Restoring Citizenship Removed By Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 Bill to the House for its second reading. 

“Committee members were unanimous in supporting the primary intent of my Bill to restore citizenship to Samoans who had it taken from them by the New Zealand Government in 1982. 

“This endorsement from the select committee is an encouraging sign for the journey that lies ahead in securing justice for our aiga Samoa. I want to acknowledge the community who came to the select committee to share their stories in both powerful and compelling ways.

“My Member’s Bill will restore the right to citizenship for people from Western Samoa who were born between 1924 and 1949, fixing a cruel and targeted law rushed through by the Government in 1982 to deny New Zealand citizenship to Samoans. 

“Earlier that year, the Privy Council found that because those born in Western Samoa were treated by New Zealand law as ‘natural-born British subjects’, they were entitled to New Zealand citizenship when it was first created in 1948. But that right was then taken away from them.

“For those people still alive today who were New Zealand citizens and had this right shamefully removed at the whim of a Government forty-two years ago, this is another big step towards justice.

“I’d like to thank members of the select committee for their consideration of my Bill and submitters for their contributions to this important discussion. We can make history by ushering this Bill into law,” says Teanau Tuiono.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party echoes a call for banks to divest from entities linked to Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine, and says Crown Financial Institutions should follow suit.

“How we spend our money counts – the Government must ensure that our country does not assist, or profit from, crimes against humanity,” says the Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Teanau Tuiono.

“Aotearoa has a long and proud history of advocating for peace. As a country which urges others to follow international law, we should walk the talk, and ensure our trade and investments aren’t party to breaches of international law.

“The Green Party supports the ultimatum given today by Justice for Palestine to ASB KiwiSaver to divest from entities linked to illegal Israeli settlements. We also call on the Government to ensure Crown Financial Institutions do likewise.

“New Zealand must act in accordance with July’s International Court of Justice advisory opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories – it’s unacceptable for Crown Financial Institutions to invest in entities linked to illegal activity.

“New Zealand also supported the recent UN resolution demanding Israel end its ‘unlawful presence’ in Palestinian territory – it must do more than simply pay lip service to this. 

“The Government must direct ACC, the Superannuation Fund, and the National Provident Fund to not invest a cent in organisations complicit and associated with Israel’s attacks on civilian populations in Gaza and Lebanon.

“Furthermore, if the BNZ Kiwisaver fund doesn’t divest from weapons companies participating in Israel’s hostilities, the Government must remove BNZ as a default Kiwisaver provider while it invests New Zealanders’ earnings in war crimes, human rights abuses, and suffering.

“New Zealand has a responsibility to ensure that our trade and investments policies aren’t profiting from and supporting unethical behaviour – especially not breaches of international law,” says Teanau Tuiono.