Green Party Achievements

8 Years of Green MPs

What have the Greens achieved in Parliament in the last eight years? This three minute video is a quick summary of our victories, with interviews with our MPs about the difference we've made, including leading the debate on climate change, pushing for and winning new conservation and transport projects, helping to keep NZ out of the Iraq war and standing up for social justice.

A list is also available for each of the years there have been Green MPs in Parliament.

2007

• The Greens highlight the illegal Pacific logging issue through a coordinated campaign Sept – Dec 2007, achieving significant media coverage across the country. As a result Woolworths ended their import of paper products from this source.
• In September, the Commerce Commission upholds Sue Kedgley’s complaint that Kiwi and Premier Bacon products were misleading consumers by implying that their bacon was from New Zealand, when it was not.
• Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui has his risk security certificate withdrawn on 13 Sept 2007, partly due to the unflagging political pressure which has been maintained by Keith Locke since December 2002.
• Sue Bradford’s Minimum Wage (Abolition of Age Discrimination) Amendment Bill passes on 5 Sept 2007. Although it has been tinkered with in Select Committee, resulting in the addition of a 200 hour qualification period not proposed by the Greens, many employers find this provision too cumbersome and opt to put their young workers on to adult wages straight away.
• Ali Panah, an Iranian who has converted to Christianity and went on hunger strike to protest for his right to stay in New Zealand, is released on bail in Auckland on 3 September after concerted campaigning by Keith Locke and others.
• Sue Kedgley’s Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Bill passes its second reading on 5 September 2007.
• The Buy Kiwi Made programme resulting from the 2005 Labour- Green Cooperation Agreement enters its most active phase with the launch of a $6.3 million media marketing campaign to manufacturers in July and to consumers in August. This will run through until early 2008.
• The Country of Origin Labelling of food campaign is launched on 2 August 2007 and strikes a chord around the country – 39,000 signatures are gathered for Sue Kedgley’s petition and presented at Parliament on 6 December 2007.
• 16 July 2007: The Government announces that the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill is on hold after months of campaigning by the Green Party and others.
• The Greens launch a high visibility reduce plastic bag campaign in conjunction with the Select Committee stages of Nandor’s Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill. On 26 June, Progressive Enterprises and Foodstuffs announce a joint campaign to reduce plastic bag use by 20%. The Bunnings Warehouse chain announces plans to phase out plastic bags entirely.
• The Greens strongly oppose a proposal to add folate to all flour. The Minister of Health announces on 22 June 2007 that, unlike in Australia, organic bread has been exempted from the new standard.
• Greens win $8.8 million wetland conservation in Budget 2007. Whangamarino Wetland in the Waikato, the Ashburton Lakes and the Upper Rangitata River in inland Canterbury, and the Waituna Lagoon and Awarua wetland complex in Southland have been selected for new baseline funding of $2 million a year of operational expenditure and $200,000 of capital expenditure over four years.
• The Greens secure $450K of funding in the 2007 Budget for a new Chief Advisor: Integrated Care, to work within the Ministry of Health. The Chief Advisor will be supported by a policy analyst to look at ways to integrate complementary healthcare and conventional medicine, particularly in the area of chronic condition management.
• On 16 May, the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill passes into law, ending the availability of the ‘reasonable force’ defence for the purposes of correction which allowed parents to legally beat their children.
• On 26 March, Jeanette releases a fair and equitable proposal to put a price on carbon - a central plank of the Party’s long-anticipated Climate Change Policy framework paper, Kicking the Carbon Habit.
• One of the Greens’ key post-election negotiated programmes – the Organic Advisory Service – is launched on 14 March 2007.
• Both Metiria and Russel tramp to the Happy Valley protest site in early 2007 as part of the Greens’ ongoing support of the Save Happy Valley campaign.
• While we opposed the final form of the Social Security Amendment Bill, Sue Bradford lobbied hard to ensure sickness and invalid beneficiaries are not forced into work as a condition of receiving a benefit
• Sue Bradford helped expose criminality in major casinos, resulting in a DIA investigation and opening up the possibility of major regulatory and legislative reform.
• 11th June 2007 - Sue Kedgley - Government introduced new Food & Nutrition Guidelines in Schools. The Green Party is delighted that its years of campaigning and its cooperation agreement with the Government have helped secure the introduction of new rules that require schools to sell only healthy food and drink to students.
• May 2007 - Sue Kedgley spearheaded campaign to 'Save The Wellington Trolley Buses' and won.
• The sedition law was repealed after pressure from the Greens and other small parties.
• Keith: increase in overseas aid in the Govt budget
• Keith has worked hard on drawing attention to human rights issues in China and the curtailing of freedoms in NZ due to the desire for a FTA. The Dalai Lama visited the Green Party Caucus mid year, shortly after the Human Rights are Not 4 sale protest, which both got good coverage.

2006

• Solar water heating programme launched worth $15.5m
• Buy Kiwi Made programme launched worth $11.5m
• School nutrition fund released $3m
• Successful campaign to save the Overlander rail service
• Environmental Education Fund - a $13m green budget bid
• We won $2.2.m to help farmers go organic - The Organics Advisory Service
• Successfully campaigned against the Government weakening it stance on GE.
• Launch of 'Turn Down the Heat' - The Greens Plan for Climate Change Action - much of which is subsequently borrowed by the Government.

2005

• Greens lead the way ahead of all other parties on the issue of peak oil, proposing steps to cope with oil shortages, higher prices and higher international tension.
• The Greens focus on transport solutions for Auckland and Wellington, offering Aucklanders a way to fund an electric rail system and calling for a state of the art public transport system through the Wellington region.
• The Green Party wins a significant victory for human rights when the Government commits to the establishment of an Independent Prison Inspectorate.
• The Greens support a Muriwai community's condemnation of an offshore iron sand mining proposal.
• Sue Kedgley's private member's bill, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Amendment Bill is selected from the Parliamentary Ballot. In April the bill passes its first reading and proceeds to Select Committee.
• Mike Ward enters his Waste Minimisation Bill, which aims to dramatically reduce waste at source, into the private members' ballot.
• The Greens and the Government launch a jointly developed first national walking and cycling strategy.
• Green MPs invest $50K in a solar water heating project to enable at least 12 Christchurch families to have solar water heaters in their homes.

2004

• Parliament passes the Clean Slate Bill, a Government adaptation of Nandor's 2001 private member's bill.
• Greens support the Hikoi at Parliament and consistently oppose the Foreshore and Seabed legislation that confiscates Maori land.
• The Government adopts Jeanette's proposal that the planned national dialogue on the Treaty be community-driven.
• Government cleans up the Mapua toxic site, for which Mike, with other locals, campaigned for many years.
• The Complementary Health Resource within the Health Ministry website, www.newhealth.govt.nz/maccah.htm, funded by a Green Budget initiative, is launched. Sue K later calls for complementary health practitioners to be integrated into the health system.
• Jeanette obtains a Government commitment to review kahawai catch limits and to fund data collection on the state of the fishery and the size of the recreational catch.
• Green-Government co-operation on transport issues leads to action on vehicle emissions screening.
• The Government adopts the Greens position on public access, setting up an agency to negotiate access to waterways.
• Sue K's successful campaign to get New Zealand garlic back on supermarket shelves gives consumers choice and saves the local industry from the flood of Chinese garlic.

2003

• Greens successfully negotiate $3.2 million in the 2002-03 Budget towards cleaning up and recording highly contaminated sites.
• The Green call is answered when the Government buys back the nation's rail track.
• The Greens' votes are essential to ensure the Maori Television Service Bill passes, enabling the establishment of the Te Whakaata Maori on New Zealand airways.
• The Children's Food Awards, organised by Sue K, are supported by a diverse range of groups such as Plunket, 5+ A Day, the Maori Women's Welfare League and MadGE, successfully raising awareness of food issues.
• Sue B's private member's bill, the Social Security (Child Benefit) Amendment Bill, seeking to reinstate a universal benefit for all children as a first step in tackling child poverty, is drawn from the ballot. It gains support from other parties but is subsequently voted down at the first reading.
• New national standards for organic certification are based on two of Ian's Budget initiatives, providing funding for the development of national standards and a production strategy for the organics industry.

2002

• Greens negotiate a $24 million funding package in this year's Budget covering enhanced biosecurity awareness programme, $6 million for Environmental Education, the establishment of a Ministerial Advisory Group on Drug Education to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of drug education in schools, a package for Auckland public transport, walking and cycling, and an additional $300,000 to environment centres.
• Green changes to Local Government Bill keep water in public hands.
• Jeanette secures amendments to the HSNO (Hazardous Substances and New Organisms) Bill.
• Green amendment to Local Government Rating Bill saves ratepayers unnecessary interest charges.
• The Greens are the only Parliamentary Party to oppose the Terrorism Suppression Bill.

2001

• The Green Party negotiates $16.4 million of Green Budget initiatives in the 2001 Budget - funding a diversity of projects including a small grower's organic development programme, expanding the organic gardens in primary schools programme, securing additional funding for EECA to develop the first national strategy, a conservation education programme and legal aid for environment groups.
• The Greens are the only party to vote against the Parliamentary resolution supporting the sending of SAS troops to Afghanistan.
• Keith forces a public back down by Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff over his attempts to secretly rush through draconian anti-terrorism legislation. The legislation was opened up to public debate and submissions.
• The Greens run a strong campaign to ensure a GE-free future for New Zealand, including a major submission to the Royal Commission on GE and speaking to over 30 well-attended public meetings.
• The Greens push the Government hard to save the rail system by negotiating to take back the tracks.
• Keith mounts a campaign against the intrusions of the new email snooping bill, and encourages interested people to make submissions on the bill.

2000

• Jeanette Fitzsimon's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill passes into law - the first ever piece of legislation in this country designed specifically to address climate change.
• The Greens negotiate $15 million during the 2000 Budget for a package of Green initiatives - biosecurity, conservation, organics, quit smoking assistance, energy efficiency, environmental education, complementary health care.
• The Greens ensure that the ending of native forest logging on the West Coast is non-negotiable, despite the lobbying of Jim Anderton and Michael Cullen.
• The much needed Royal Commission of Inquiry on Genetic Modification is put in place, as requested by the 100,000 New Zealanders who signed the Green Party petition.
• The adoption of the current Select Committee Review into the most appropriate and effective legal status of cannabis.
• Select Committee enquiry into organic production, as requested by Ian Ewen-Street, goes ahead.