Green Party

The Government has failed New Zealanders by approving a potentially hazardous GM food ingredient, setting a dangerous precedent that will let other untested animals feed products enter the country's food chain, Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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The first priority for the possible $1.5 billion tax cuts should be environmental protection, public health and public education, the Green Party says.

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Campaign funding and finance will be examined by a Citizens’ Jury, following an agreement between the Green Party and the Government.

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The Government agreement to purchase 34 luxury six cylinder BMWs over the next three years contravenes their own fuel efficiency standard for diesel vehicles as laid out in the Energy Efficiency Conservation Strategy, Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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The Justice and Electoral select committee has today reported back from its inquiry into the rights of victims in the criminal justice system.

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The Green Party is delighted that the Government will honour its commitment to increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour in line with Labour's agreements with the Green Party and NZ First after the 2005 election.

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BAY OF PLENTY — The Green Party welcomes the announcement today by Environment Bay of Plenty that 91 percent of dairy farms checked in annual monitoring are meeting their resource consent conditions.

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Green MP Keith Locke has written to the Prime Minister urging the Government, not the police, to make the decision over whether Tasers should be brought into the police armoury.

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The Green Party is welcoming yesterday’s announcement by the Government to improve the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

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New Zealanders are being urged to pick up arms – buckets and spades and head for the beaches this summer in the fight against Japanese whaling.

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The Green Party says the newly released Medicines New Zealand strategy has plenty of rhetoric but is short on innovation or practical measures to achieve its goals.

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Fonterra’s lift in the forecast payout for the season to $6.90 is a major opportunity to future-proof New Zealand farming, says the Green Party.

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Green Party MP Sue Kedgley said this morning that she was pleased the Health Select Committee is supporting stronger warning labels on soy infant formula and more parental education about the risks of feeding infants soy-based formulas.

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AUCKLAND — The Green Party believe that there is a great economic opportunity for the Department of Conservation in making Rangitoto and Motutapu islands into sanctuaries for endangered birds species.

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The Greens are alarmed that Food Standards Australia New Zealand has announced three new applications for genetically engineered commodities to be permitted into our food supply – two cotton varieties and one corn.

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The Green Party is welcoming the appointment of international expert Dr Stuart Slorach to head an independent review of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority’s risk management decision-making processes.

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The Green Party is urging New Zealanders to get their fingers walking for climate change.

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The Green Party absolutely refutes Jim Anderton's claims that they have blocked the passage of his BZP Bill.

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AUCKLAND — Join the launch of the Green Party's Sand Sculpture Challenge at Oriental Bay beach this Saturday where we will be building a giant whale sand sculpture to send a message to the Japanese Government – stop whaling! Japan has announced that the whaling fleet intends to kill 50 endangered fin whales, 50 threatened humpback whales and 935 minke whales this season under the guise of scientific whaling.

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AUCKLAND — The Green Party is shocked that the Auckland City Council plans to break an affordable housing contract at a council meeting tomorrow.

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Yesterday’s Court of Appeal ruling over Genesis Energy's proposed gas-fired power station on the Kaipara harbour highlights the need for Parliament to urgently pass Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons's Resource Management (Climate Protection) Bill.

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The Ombudsman’s report on Complaints Arising from Aerial Spraying is a damning indictment of the Government’s handling of the painted apple moth aerial spraying campaign, the Green Party says.

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Children forced to walk State Highway 2 to get to Maramarua School deserve to see the evidence the Minister of Transport has for saying that “heavier trucks tend to be safer”.

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The draft National Transport Strategy, which was released at 5pm today, shows that the Government is finally listening to Green Party advice on transport and peak oil issues, Green Party Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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WELLINGTON CITY — The Greens are welcoming the Wellington City Council’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2012, and say this demands a rethink of yesterday’s call for two new tunnels and a new highway to be built in Wellington.

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Permits for bigger trucks need to have very tight conditions Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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Shoppers will find it easier to buy Kiwi made products thanks to the Buy Kiwi Made Fund decisions announced today by Ms Sue Bradford, Government Spokesperson for Buy Kiwi Made.

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A Green Party survey has highlighted the urgent need for mandatory country of origin labelling – a move supported by a 39,000-signature petition presented to Parliament today.

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WELLINGTON — Green Party MP Sue Kedgley says Wellington will have to give up any pretence at being an eco-city if it supports Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast's call for drilling another tunnel through Mt Victoria and extending State Highway One to Wellington Airport.

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The Green Party is urging the Government to stop obfuscating and join the rapidly growing group of countries that have committed to keeping global warming under 2 degrees.

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Green Party MP Metiria Turei today criticised the National Party's hypocrisy over the speed with which the Electoral Finance Bill is being passed through Parliament - given that their deputy leader Bill English took less than an hour last night to dismiss a Green Party proposal that would give ordinary citizens the central role in setting campaign finance law.

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A British report into the environmental impacts of the IT industry claims that computer servers are at least as much of a threat to the environment as SUV’s or the aviation industry.

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Green Party MP Keith Locke has supported Amnesty International’s call for a moratorium on New Zealand forces handing over any prisoners to Afghan authorities.

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The Green Party is disappointed that the Sensible Sentencing Trust and Family First have sunk to the level of misrepresenting the perspective of a religious lobby group as balanced research, and refutes their conclusion that smacking is an effective form of discipline.

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WELLINGTON — Green Party MP Sue Kedgley is repeating her call for standardised, mandatory reporting and publication of all adverse events in New Zealand hospitals, following the Dominion Post’s exposé of 23 cases of serious medical mishaps between 2003 and 2005, including 16 deaths, at Capital and Coast Health.

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The Government's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme is well designed but will take years to have much effect on our greenhouse emissions, and meanwhile world levels are skyrocketing to dangerous levels, Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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The Green Party says the policy of pushing mothers and babies out of hospital within hours of giving birth must stop.

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WELLINGTON CITY — Green Party MP Sue Kedgley will be presenting a 39,000 signature petition calling for mandatory country of origin labelling on all fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and single component foods at 1pm this Thursday in the West Foyer in Parliament.

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The Green Party is congratulating the Government on its new sustainability website, but is issuing its own sustainability challenge to the Prime Minister.

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Green Party Education Spokesperson Metiria Turei is dismayed at Auckland University’s announcement that it will be turning away thousands of people seeking higher education by restricting entry to undergraduate programmes.

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The New Zealand - China free trade talks underway again today are standing in the way of action on climate change and tropical forest destruction says the Green Party.

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OAMARU — The Green Party is very disappointed with an interim decision indicating support for cement giant Holcim’s plans to build a massive cement plant at Weston, near Oamaru.

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The Minister of Fisheries has delivered a blow to the critically endangered Maui’s dolphins and to the thousands of people who made submissions on the Dolphin Management Plan, the Green Party say.

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The Health Minister must reassess the Government’s approach to post-natal care in response to admissions today of mothers being paid $100 to leave hospital early after giving birth, the Green Party says.

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Green Party Police Spokesperson Keith Locke wants the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to end its investment in Taser International.

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MANAWATU-WHANGANUI — Federated Farmers President Charlie Pedersen’s claim that water quality is improving in the Manawatu area due to farmers’ improvements is being challenged by Green Party MP Nandor Tanczos.

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The Green Party says that the Government has taken an important step today by responding largely positively to the Health Select Committees’ Inquiry into obesity and type two diabetes.

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The Green Party is calling on the Government to address the inhumane conditions suffered by animals during transport to export markets.

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Green Party Police Spokesperson Keith Locke is asking the Police Complaints Authority to consider whether the introduction of the Taser stun gun would be contrary to New Zealand’s commitments under the UN Convention Against Torture.

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The Green Party is calling on the Japanese Government to recall its whaling fleet and spare the lives of the more than 1000 whales it plans to slaughter for ‘scientific purposes’ in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

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Parliament could soon be taking some real steps to counter both climate change and the rising cost of fuel thanks to the drawing today of one of the Green Party’s Six Pack of Climate Change Bills announced last November.

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Workers have a new right giving them more say over the hours they work, with last night’s passage of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Act, Green Party MP Sue Kedgley said today.

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"This is a simple, light handed piece of legislation, which establishes a new employment right for any employee with caring responsibilities, allowing them to seek changes to their hours or place of work.

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The Minister of Fisheries has set the permissible sea lion by-kill too high to allow the threatened population to recover to sustainable levels, Green Party Conservation Spokesperson Metiria Turei says.

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MARLBOROUGH — New information about a ketch seen at the time of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope’s disappearance casts enough doubt on the conviction of Scott Watson to warrant reopening the case, Green Party Justice Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos says.

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MANUKAU CITY — Sue Kedgley congratulates the Manukau City Council for their tough stand on unhygienic food outlets, saying that the public have a right to make informed choices about where they eat.

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Green MP Keith Locke today expressed concern that newly released Police instructions curtail the right to legitimate protest.

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WELLINGTON — “Federated Farmers president, Charlie Pedersen, needs to accept that the days of environmental plunder are over,” Green Party Environment Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos says.

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The Green Party is heralding a new era of more flexible workplaces with tomorrow’s passing of the landmark Flexible Working Arrangements Bill.

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With the inclusion of changes negotiated by the Green Party, the Electoral Finance Bill tabled today should allay many of the concerns raised by New Zealanders.

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The Green Party today welcomed the latest Caritas report on child labour ‘Delivering the Goods’ and endorsed their call for more protection for child workers.

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AUCKLAND — Auckland Green MP Keith Locke is calling for the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to rethink its exclusion of Falun Gong from the Santa Parade, after the group’s successful participation in the Wellington parade yesterday.

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AUCKLAND — TV Personality Marc Ellis should be prosecuted by the Department of Conservation for his foolish publicity stunt on Rangitoto Island, the Green Party says.

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A Green Party survey of sunbed operations in the Wellington region has found that most are flouting industry standards and many are exposing young girls to serious health risks.

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Green Party MP Keith Locke says the killing with a Taser of a Polish immigrant at Vancouver airport shows the risks of equipping Police with a weapon that has such lethal capacity.

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With Maui’s dolphin numbers at perilous levels the Green Party is imploring the Government to heed the pleas of the 32,000 who signed a WWF petition to stop their extinction.

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The Green Party is concerned that Fonterra has not demonstrated any need to change its ownership structure and may be being driven by the investor market who want to capitalize on the huge profits to be made in the sector.

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Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today criticised the lack of concern being shown by Finance Minister Michael Cullen about the chronic inability of Treasury, the Reserve Bank and MED to accurately forecast the price of oil, or even whether it is likely to rise or fall.

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Green Party MP Keith Locke has called on the Crown Law Office to take action against the Dominion-Post over its decision to publish excerpts from police affidavits on the ‘terrorism’ raids.

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Green Party MP Keith Locke has called on Police Commissioner Howard Broad to take steps to find and plug the leaks to the media of evidence gathered to support the failed ‘terrorism’ charges, before those leaks further jeopardize the chance of fair trials on the alleged arms offences.

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The Green Party is calling for an urgent overhaul of biosecurity laws in the wake of a groundbreaking report of the People’s Inquiry today.

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The Green Party today expressed disbelief at a decision by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board that a coal mine can successfully claim to have a ‘low environmental impact,’ and will be appealing the decision.

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The Green Party is wondering whether Trevor Mallard has already forgotten about his environment portfolio.

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Green Party MP Sue Bradford’s Private Member’s bill improving the lot of babies with mothers in prison was reported back to Parliament today.

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Green Party Human Rights Spokesperson Keith Locke is calling for the Government to withdraw the Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill, currently before Parliament, in the light of the forthcoming Law Commission review of the 2002 Terrorism Suppression Act.

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Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley is urging the Government to rethink its policies on trans-fatty acids, in the wake of the New Zealand Medical Journal today highlighting the dangers of trans-fatty acids and recommending labelling regulations.

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Green Party MP Keith Locke today applauded the decision by Solicitor-General David Collins not to allow the Police to press terrorism charges against the recently arrested group of Maori, peace and environmentalist activists.

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Mandatory product liability and warranty insurance should be applied to all imported goods, Green Party Regional Development Spokesperson Sue Bradford said today.

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The Government should be embarrassed that New Zealand has one of the dirtiest car fleets in the OECD, and that about 16 percent of the petrol fleet would not be allowed on the road in Europe or most parts of North America, the Green Party says.

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Green Party MP Keith Locke has applauded the Privacy Commissioner for her forthright submission on the Immigration Bill, and for her finding that the Bill has given ‘insufficient regard…to respecting privacy within the necessary processes.” “The Privacy Commissioner has issued a damning appraisal confirming Green concerns that the Bill allows too much information in immigration cases to be kept secret,” Mr Locke says.

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Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley is concerned at reports that Capital Coast District Health Board is in a state of disarray and she is calling on the Minister of Health to put the Board on notice that if the situation isn’t rectified he will step in.

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Green MP Sue Kedgley said she is delighted that her Flexible Working Arrangements Bill will complete its committee reading stages in Parliament today, and should have its final reading and become law before the end of the year.

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The Green Party is delighted to see the Government has finally taken a stand in support of coastal shipping, by establishing a Maritime Liaison Unit within the Transport Ministry, amid other measures.

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WELLINGTON — The Green Party is today marking the second anniversary of the death of Co-Leader Rod Donald, by gathering after caucus beside his kowhai tree in Parliament grounds.

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The Green Party welcomes the release of the new school curriculum today, which will ensure that all school children are able to learn more about issues of sustainability and environmental responsibility.

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An Innovation Fund to encourage smart innovations that will lead to the uptake of solar water heating and heat pump water heating technologies was launched today by Jeanette Fitzsimmons, Government Spokesperson on Energy Efficiency and Conservation.

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Overwhelming public support for food labelling initiatives demonstrates growing concern over the safety of the food in New Zealand and the Government needs to do more to address these concerns, Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

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The lack of student representation on the newly appointed Medical Training Board is a major impediment to meaningful training development the Green Party says.

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The Green Party looks forward to the end of anxiety-fuelled stonewalling, and the start of an objective and balanced discussion on the status of cannabis in New Zealand society, as called for by a respected authority on drug policy and research.

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If Trevor Mallard was to be punished, giving him the Environment portfolio is an odd way for that to be expressed, Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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COROMANDEL — The Court of Appeal decision released today in favour of the Coromandel Watchdog group is a landmark victory for local communities, says Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

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The Green Party is calling on the Government to consider the transport of live animals and not just slaughter conditions at the end of their journey, following the Minister of Agriculture’s announcement that he is reviewing the trade in live animal exports.

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The Green Party rejects the frail defence by the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council of it’s fishing-at-any-cost stance.

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TARANAKI — Today’s evidence of tar balls washing up on the Taranaki coast should be ringing alarm bells in Government about the potential risks and costs of the mooted oil exploration in the Great South Basin, Greens Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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The establishment of an Ombudsman for Prisons fulfils the Government’s agreement with the Green Party to set up an independent prison inspectorate, as announced in a joint statement today.

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WELLINGTON CITY — Green Party MP Keith Locke suggests that the authorities should be looking much closer to home for the real dangers from political violence.

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The Green Party welcomes the Health Minister’s assurance that he will be seeking Ministry of Health advice on the issue of sunbed safety and regulation, Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

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The Government’s organic vision is about as good as that of a Pukekohe potato, says Green MP and Agriculture Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos.

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NEW PLYMOUTH — Contact Energy should take the opportunity provided by the discovery of asbestos at the New Plymouth power station to close the station permanently, Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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The NZ Institute is sounding like a carbon addict in denial, Green Party Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

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