Category: New Zealand Legislature

Source: Green Party

The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security.

“This new NDC is the closest thing the Government could do to breaking the Paris Agreement and walking away from our international climate commitments without actually doing it,” says the Green Party Co-Leader and Climate Change spokesperson, Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“The expert, independent Climate Change Commission demonstrated how reductions of over 70 per cent are completely achievable, making it completely ridiculous for the Government to suggest that 51 per cent is the best we can do.

“Where’s Christopher Luxon’s much-talked-about ambition and ‘culture of yes’ when it comes to protecting the climate necessary for life as we know it?

“We have the plan, we have the tools, and we have the vision – it’s been laid out for everyone by the Climate Change Commission. All that’s missing is the political willpower. 

“This Government loves to compare our ambition to other countries – but only when it suits them. The UK has just set a target of reducing their emissions 81 per cent by 2035. We can do the same, or even better.

“Christopher Luxon has consistently told us all he’s committed to our climate targets and goals. The Paris Agreement requires all signatories to consistently ratchet up ambition. The rhetoric isn’t matching reality.

“That reality of climate change is now impossible to ignore. Every decision this Government makes to keep fossil fuels on life support and delay the transition contributes to the growing frequency and intensity of climate change charged extreme weather, ultimately costing us all the more dearly.

“This ‘culture of yes’ should be about saying ‘yes’ to a thriving future. ‘Yes’ to a liveable planet. ‘Yes’ to the kind of ambition that once upon a time made us world-leaders,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

Source: Green Party

The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress.

“Open season on renters has begun, as this Government for landlords creates more insecurity and pain for renters,” says the Green Party’s Housing spokesperson Tamatha Paul. 

“No-cause evictions mean that renters can be removed from their homes without reason, undermining housing stability and perpetuating insecurity. It’s another cruel step which favours landlords and erodes renters’ rights in Aotearoa. There will be many families who will suffer acutely as a result of the uncertainty this creates.

“No-cause evictions have flow-on impacts for children of families who are plunged into housing instability – it undermines their health and education, and compounds mental health problems linked to inadequate housing and unhealthy homes. 

“Landlords will be able to kick out renters on a whim – it may be because of the renter’s disability or even the way they dress – but the landlord doesn’t have to provide a reason, it’s open season.

“Housing is a human right, but this Government is treating it like a business. Housing forms the foundation for our communities to thrive, it is something we can afford to provide to everyone.

“The Government has ignored the overwhelming public opposition to this Bill. A massive 97 per cent of submitters on the no clause termination provision opposed it, including 53 per cent of landlords themselves.

“Everyone deserves a safe and secure place to call home. The Green Party will continue to fight for stronger renters rights, and that includes removing no-cause evictions,” says Tamatha Paul.

Source: Green Party

The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm.

“The Government’s pro-growth spin cannot obscure the fact that raising speed limits significantly increases the risk of serious harm,” says the Green Party’s Transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter.

“The laws of physics aren’t a matter of popular opinion. The faster the speed, the bigger the mess. The evidence is overwhelming: safe speeds save lives.

“And yet this Government is substantially hiking up the speed limit on a swathe of often undivided roads in regions such as Northland which has had historically higher rates of deaths on their roads compared to the rest of the country.

“When safe speed limits were established in Northland it reduced deaths and serious injuries by 50-60 per cent with increases in travel times less than one minute per 10 kilometres. 

“People won’t notice a minute added to their travel – they will notice when a loved one doesn’t return home from work or school.

“Countries with the lowest deaths and serious injuries have 70 or 80 kph speed limits maximum on rural undivided highways. That’s the International Transport Forum’s recommendation – and the difference it makes is quite stark.

“Local councils, health professionals and road safety experts from here and around the world have spoken out opposing this senseless policy, outlining the serious harm it will cause.

“The Government is playing politics with people’s lives here. Failing to follow the evidence and ignoring basic physics will have real-world consequences,” says Julie Anne Genter.

Source: Green Party

Christopher Luxon’s State of the Nation speech today offered no real hope nor vision for a unified and prosperous Aotearoa New Zealand.

“Our country is not a corporation and a Prime Minister is not a CEO. Christopher Luxon today waved goodbye to record numbers of New Zealanders leaving the country as he offers nothing but reheated austerity,” says Green Party Co-Leader Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“Luxon’s stated plan is to magically ‘grow’ out of our problems, while he slashes investment in the very infrastructure and research necessary for any kind of growth. His version of growth costs worker’s livelihoods and a stable climate while lining the pockets of the wealthiest.

“There’s no future in turning our country into a chop shop and selling critical assets for parts.

“If you want proof of the nonsense in Luxon’s pitch today, just look to the fossil-fuel-reliance manufactured electricity crisis every winter. To the closure of pulp and paper mills in Ohakune and Tokoroa. To the lack of any industrial planning to support miners out of a volatile boom and bust cycle.

“Luxon’s State of the Nation wasn’t a vision for the future. It was a reheat of the rhetoric that’s failed us for more than 40 years.

“Doing more of the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

“Doing things that your own advice says will increase inequality and climate changing emissions is selling out your people and our future.

“The IRD tells us that the wealthiest 311 households hold more wealth combined than the bottom two and a half million, while paying half the effective tax rate of the average New Zealander. Rules reinforced by Luxon mean you can bank more money and avoid paying tax if you speculate on properties instead of working. That’s the productivity problem.

“We are a country of enormous talent that punches well above our weight. Let’s invest in that, instead of hoping some billionaires will come and save us. Such a ‘plan’ is not working out so well for the United States of America,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.  

Source: Green Party

The Government’s newly released data paints a damning picture: the sanctions regime targeting beneficiaries is an abject failure. 

“Benefit sanctions deprive people of the means to survive and there is no evidence they support people into paid employment,” says the Green Party’s Social Development and Employment spokesperson, Ricardo Menéndez March.

“This is blatant cruelty dressed up as policy. People deserve to live in dignity and to be supported in times of need, not punished. 

“The Government’s own data shows their vindictive measures are not helping people into work. The number of people receiving the main benefit is sitting at the highest level in six years, despite sanctions going up 126 per cent since last year. 

“The Government has both relied on making people unemployed to lower inflation, while also doubling down on sanctions towards unemployed people. Louise Upston is being careless with the truth by trying to draw a correlation between sanctions and people leaving a benefit without any evidence to show this is the case. 

“The truth is that under this Government there are no plans to have enough jobs available for every person on the benefit, condemning thousands of people to living below the poverty line.

“These policies aren’t just failing beneficiaries, they’re failing everyone. The Government’s punch-down policies are increasing unemployment, pushing up rents and failing to find people work. It’s a vicious cycle, in which the most vulnerable bear the brunt of this Government’s endless quest to line the pockets of the rich at the expense of everyone else.

“We can afford to care for one another, without blame or shame, all that’s missing is the political will.

“The Green Party campaigned on a fully costed plan to end poverty. Central to this is the establishment of a wealth tax. Furthermore, we would guarantee liveable incomes, end benefit sanctions, and provide tailored support to connect people with jobs that match their skills and aspirations,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.

Source: Green Party

The latest Consumer Price Index figures show rents rising almost twice as fast as general inflation. 

“Christopher Luxon tells New Zealanders one thing while doing another,” says Green Party co-leader and spokesperson for Finance Chlöe Swarbrick.  

“He says he is rebuilding the economy, when in reality, his Government’s decisions have helped create rent inflation double the rate of general inflation and driven more people into poverty while deepening and lengthening the recession. Those are consciously made choices, with clear consequences that the Government was warned about.

“We can build an economy that works for people and planet, instead of one which exhausts and exploits both. That requires decisions that prioritise the wellbeing of all, instead of lining the pockets of those at the top.

“The Government is either deeply economically illiterate, taking New Zealanders for chumps, or both.

“Cutting taxes for landlords, paid for by chopping public spending on essential services right through the bone, is not only deeply unfair, but deeply unproductive. It hurts the poorest most, and all of us in the long run.

“The only thing that’s trickling down is more cost for regular people, while Government decisions secure profits for the wealthiest.

“The climate crisis and infrastructure deficit are not going away. Instead of confronting them and investing in solutions, Luxon’s Government is digging its head in the coal and supporting corporate profiteering over New Zealanders’ wellbeing.

“It would appear the only people unwilling to see the devastating reality of this Government’s decisions is the Government itself,” says Chlöe Swarbrick. 

Source: Green Party

The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again.

“Every human being, from Aotearoa to the United States of America, lives on the same planet,” says Green Co-leader and Climate Spokesperson, Chlöe Swarbrick.

“Every action, of any Government, that increases climate changing emissions increases the frequency and severity of catastrophes like the Los Angeles fires or our North Island’s Cyclone Gabrielle. 

“Trump is talking about colonising Mars while scorching Earth.

“He’s right that ‘a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth’ from citizens – but he’s giving that system a shot of steroids by enabling more corporate profiteering from polluting fossil fuels.

“Regular people pay the price while billionaires get privatised firefighter forces.

“If the United States follows through on pulling out of the Paris Agreement, they join Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only nations on planet Earth unwilling to formally cooperate on securing our collective future.

“Christopher Luxon talks at length about how he’s got to work with international leaders even if he disagrees with them. How about working with those we apparently agree with to just take action on climate change?

“The climate crisis is a ticking time bomb – one we, perversely, actually know the code to diffuse. We either transform our economy into something that serves people and planet, or watch it go up in flames.

“Trump’s election requires us to show what we stand for and do it, instead of hiding behind the big boys.

“Christopher Luxon can and should set an ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2035, scrap opening new fossil fuel mines and drilling and actually commit to meeting our 2030 NDC.

“What I’m saying to you is, words are cheap,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.