Category: Political Parties

Source: Green Party

The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis.

“The Government has given up on the housing crisis, using the review into Kāinga Ora to push their privatisation agenda,” says the Green Party spokesperson for Housing Tamatha Paul.

“Public housing is as essential as public healthcare and public education. Housing is a human right that this Government is denying our communities from accessing. 

“The housing crisis in Aotearoa is getting worse and worse. Instead of making excuses to allow poverty and homelessness to skyrocket, the Government needs to back Kāinga Ora to build at scale and at pace. 

“This Government is deliberately stripping Kāinga Ora to the bare bones, playing straight into the hands of wealthy landlords looking to exploit housing insecurity for private profit. We cannot rely on the private market to solve our problems, we have seen it entrench poverty and homelessness across generations. 

“The last Government sold just 276 state houses over six years, but increased public housing supply by over 7,000 homes. With this new direction, Bishop will sell 900 per year. That’s not just opening the door to privatisation, it’s welcoming it in with open arms. 

“In the past, our country’s leaders made a conscious decision to house everybody and grow public housing stock at scale. We can make that decision again and we must resist the sale of public housing at all costs because it will have consequences for generations to come.

“Public housing is a crucial part of ensuring we don’t have gentrified, segregated communities, and that our neighbourhoods reflect the make-up of our wider society, culturally and economically.

“Housing is a public good that provides the basis for a stable home for whanau, so that no one is left behind. The Government should be building thousands of new homes,” says Tamatha Paul.

Source: Green Party

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. 

“I am alive, I am well and I am back,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. 

“I’m delighted to be returning to my Taitokerau whenua, and to stand alongside my fellow wahine co-leader Chlöe and our Green Party colleagues to demonstrate our movement’s core beliefs in upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and in championing the wellbeing of people and planet. 

“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to return to my work. And I am grateful, beyond words, for the aroha and support my whānau, my community and so many have graced me with this past year.  

“I believe in community – I believe in our collective strength, and my journey over the past year has made so clear how necessary it is to take care of others, and to be taken care of. 

“We know the value of caring for one another. Together, we will create the future our mokopuna deserve,” says Marama Davidson. 

Source: Green Party

Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine.

“These communities have successfully opposed mining for the best part of 50 years – Jones’ latest announcement is a mere blip in history that will be undone when there’s a new Green Government,” says Green Party Spokesperson for Resources, Steve Abel.

“They know first-hand that long after the jobs have dried up and the mine bosses have taken the profits overseas the locals are left with a toxic legacy of cyanide tailings dams and acid mine drainage. 

“Our public conservation lands exist to protect our rich natural landscapes, and the unique native plants and animals that they sustain.

“When John Key’s National government proposed a similar policy in 2010, 40,000 people marched up Queen Street in vehement opposition. Now, Christopher Luxon is resurrecting the same terrible idea. 

“Mining more conservation land was a terrible idea 15 years ago and it’s a worse idea now. The message back in 2010 was clear: conservation land is for all of us, not for the profits of a wealthy few. Nothing’s changed.

“We can’t mine our way to a liveable planet. The resources we need for energy transition need to come from better waste recovery. Coal and gold are not critical minerals.

“We can’t rip, strip and bust our way to real prosperity – our well-being relies on a thriving natural world and a stable climate–and that’s why the extractive mindset is unfit for the 21st century,” says Steve Abel.

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.