Our hearts go out to everyone in Aotearoa who has been affected by recent flooding in Tāmaki Makaurau, Northland, Waikato and Cyclone Gabrielle all around the North Island. 

This is climate change.

But right now, there are reports that Auckland’s Mayor, Wayne Brown, is considering cutting two-thirds of the funding sources for essential environmental programmes that are crucial to protecting everyone from severe weather.

Essential work is at risk, like improving stormwater management and restoring wetlands to reduce the impact of floods.

We’ve heard that Mayor Brown is also proposing cutting funding for buses - when we know that better public transport is a crucial part of reducing our climate pollution and delivering a more liveable, sustainable city.

And we've even heard that the Natural Environment Targeted Rate looks to be 'paused', in addition to a significant reduction of the climate change team's work programme.

I need your help to stop this happening. Together, we can show Mayor Brown that Aucklanders want more investment in a climate-safe future, not less.

We’ve got to act fast. The Mayor and council are finalising their proposed budget in the next few days. Just as communities have united to help with the immediate response and recovery, we need to show our political leaders that we’re united in our support for:

• Protecting and restoring wetlands, rivers, and streams to keep floodwaters away from homes and communities.
• Improving our green spaces, through planting trees and maintaining our parks, so that our urban environment is more resilient in the face of extreme weather.
• Making buses and trains more frequent and more reliable, so people aren’t forced into car dependency to get around their city.
• Making streets better for people, so tamariki can walk and bike to school safely.

As we continue to recover from the devastation, we need urgent action to build climate-friendly, resilient communities where everyone has what they need to thrive in Tāmaki Makaurau and nationwide. A better future is possible. 

As we honour the 183rd anniversary of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, we must consider both the future we want to build and the legacy of our past. We look towards an Aotearoa where the collective and individual wellbeing of all of our people thrive.

But for some Māori landowners, unjust legal systems from our colonial past continue today. For over 120 years many Māori landowners have had their rights stripped from them, being forced to lease their land, with no real say on what terms. This is because of “perpetual leases” – a type of lease abolished in the United Kingdom over 100 years ago.

Meanwhile, here in Aotearoa, Māori landowners forced into this arrangement are denied the right to live on their land, the right to care for and manage their land how they see fit, the right to nurture and grow a future for themselves and future generations. The rights to their land were handed over to others, with no suitable redress.

For over more than a century the government administrators who were meant to act in the best interest of Māori owners instead leased out the land for a pittance, with perpetual renewal rights. In doing so they privileged settlers and their descendants at the expense and serious disadvantage of the Māori landowners.

Under perpetual leases, lands are essentially removed from the control of the Māori owners. This denies and prevents their tino rangatiratanga. In fact if any Māori owner were to even walk on their lands under perpetual leases they would be regarded as trespassers.

This egregious colonial tool has got to end. The Government has the power to do this through legislation, and through assisting with negotiations.

Ending perpetual leases would enable Māori landowners to regain control of their lands and finally return to them the ability to develop and utilise their lands for the benefit of their whānau and hapū.

Help put an end to an injustice from the colonial era that continues to this day - abolish perpetual leases on Māori land.

Sign on to show your support for an Independent Commissioner for Animals so we can give animals a voice and end cruelty.

Together we can make climate change history.

The Zero Carbon Bill will create a pathway for Aotearoa to transition to a net zero emission economy by 2050. We need your help to make sure our plan for the future is the best it can be and that it doesn't let anyone fall behind.

This Bill will affect us all. It will create new jobs, make it quicker and cleaner to get around in our cities, and it will lower our power bills. Most importantly it will protect our children's future. The Zero Carbon Act will set to achieve these three components:

1. Set where we are going by setting greenhouse gases targets in law
2. Establish an independent Climate Change commission
3. Ensure we're planning for the effects of climate change along the way

How that looks will be shaped by your input on how we can minimise harm and maximise benefits.

We want you to tell us how this Bill will affect your kids, your community, your business, your whānau and you. Pledge today to make a submission or submit an online submission.

Find out more at http://bit.ly/ourclimateyoursay

New Zealanders deserve a positive and solutions-focused discussion on access to medicinal cannabis, which should be legal, and affordable.

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick has a medical cannabis Bill which Parliament will consider very soon! The Bill will legalise access to cannabis products for New Zealanders suffering from terminal illness or any debilitating condition.

We’ve seen a sea change in public attitudes about medicinal cannabis in recent years, thanks to the many many brave people who have spoken out about their experiences with chronic pain and terminal illness.

We need to take action. Chlöe's Bill legalises cannabis and cannabis products for people who are suffering from terminal illness or any debilitating condition, with the support of a registered medical practitioner.

It's safe and it's got wide support in the community. Sign on to help us make it law.

The Green Party wants to help parents when they need it the most, by ensuring they have time and money to focus on raising happy, healthy kids.  

We were going to put up a big long survey to find out what you think, but we know you don’t have time for that.

So just tell us what would make your life easier and let us take care of the rest.

The Grey District Council is considering a proposal to break out the chainsaws and allow logging of native forest on three Council reserves. This would renege on the expectation when the Government gave the West Coast $120 million in 2001 that native forest logging on public land had ended for good.

West Coast rain forests should echo with birdsong, not ring to the sound of chainsaws.

The proposal is to log and remove ancient native rimu and beech trees from steep hillsides at Mt Buckley and Mt Sewell in the Grey Valley and at Lake Brunner’s Cashmere Bay.

When trees like rimu and beech take centuries to grow, logging them is not “sustainable.”

These forests are likely to provide habitat for threatened birds like kaka and kakariki/parakeets, pekapeka/bats and other special wildlife.  Logging will destroy habitat for our precious native plants and wildlife, scar the landscape, and re-invigorate the native forest logging industry which was winding down.

Find out more

Watch TVNZ footage of the areas that are under threat from logging.

A blogpost by Green MP Eugenie Sage that highlights the history to the issue.

Photo: Mattinbgn

Our water rules are not exactly water tight!

Right now companies can use huge amounts of our water for next to nothing, and make money out of it.

That's not fair - water is precious, and many of our rivers and aquifers are being polluted and are under stress.

Bill English has tried to dampen public outrage by getting an advisory group to look at it. But he won’t commit to doing anything despite knowing we need to act now.

The Green Party says that if they’re taking it, and they’re profiting from it, they should pay for it!

That money can then go to Regional Councils and Tangata Whenua to support the important work they do.

If you agree, please sign our petition calling for a charge on the commercial use of water.

Doing so will help protect fresh water for future generations!  Tiakina ngā wai.

The Green Party supports universal te reo Māori in all public schools.  We have a responsibility to ensure that our indigenous language thrives in Aotearoa, and introducing all children to it at school is the best way to make that happen.  Learning a second language has proven benefits for children, as does Māori students being immersed in their own culture. Learning a language is also a fantastic way to respect, value and connect with a culture that isn’t your own.

KiwiRail’s has decided it will replace our electric freight trains in the North Island with dirty diesel trains.

That means not only more climate pollution, but ultimately a slower and more expensive rail service on the North Island that will see more freight move onto road.

At a time when New Zealand needs to be investing in low carbon infrastructure, replacing electric trains with diesel ones is the ultimate example of short-term thinking.

It's not too late to stop this going ahead. The decision has only been made in principle and it will take a number of months before the purchase new diesel trains can be signed off.

Please sign this petition asking Parliament to review KiwiRail’s decision to replace electric trains with diesel ones.

When we present this petition to Parliament our MPs will have the chance to debate this issue in select committee, including – if the select committee decides – to hear submissions, then report back to Parliament. We use this opportunity to put pressure on Kiwirail, and the Government to overturn their decision.