Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a left-wing political party. It is the third-equal largest political party in the House of Representatives, with 10 MPs. The party has two co-leaders, one male and one female. It accepts Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of New Zealand.

About Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand in brief

Summary Green Party of Aotearoa New ZealandThe Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a left-wing political party. It is the third-equal largest political party in the House of Representatives, with 10 MPs. The party has two co-leaders, one male and one female. The Green Party was founded to counter what it sees as the threats to the natural environment and environmental issues remain its main focus. In recent times, it has expressed concerns about mining of national parks, fresh water, climate change, peak oil and the release of genetically engineered organisms. It accepts Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of New Zealand and recognises Māori as tangata whenua. In its economic policies, the Green Party stresses factors such as sustainability, taxing the indirect costs of pollution, and fair trade. It wants the eventual introduction of a universal basic income. In the 2017–2020 term of the Sixth Labour Government, medicinal cannabis was legalised but a referendum on recreational cannabis use was lost. In 2019, Aaron Hawkins was elected as the Mayor of Dunedin. The Greens contested the 1993 and 1996 elections as part of the Alliance. In 1999, the Greens gained 5% of the vote and 7 seats in Parliament. This is believed to be the first time a Green candidate won a seat in a parliamentary election. This led to the Greens being excluded from the Alliance which excluded the Greens from the government on confidence and supply in return for some input into budget legislation. In 1997, feeling that membership of the alliance had subsumed their identity, thereens took the decision to stand candidates independently at the next election.

While most of the Green party members left the Alliance, some decided instead to leave the Greens and join the Green Alliance. Some of the Greens decided to stay in the Alliance and joined the NewLabour Party, notably Sue and Keith Locke, who both joined the Alliance via Bradford Bradford. In 2000, Jeanette Fitzsimons was elected unopposed as female co-leader, and Rod Donald defeated Joel Cayford and Mike Smith in a three-way contest to become male co- leader. At that conference, Fitzsimon won the electorate seat of Coromandel and led the Greens to victory in the 2000 general election. In 2009, the party won the Auckland seat of Coromandel, which led to its first seat in Parliament and the return of some input to budget legislation and some input in some bills. In 2010, it took to the streets of Auckland to protest against the government’s handling of the economy. In 2012, it won the election to Auckland City Council under the City Vision political banner, under which it campaigns with the Labour Party. In 2013, it became the first Green party to win an electorate seat in the Auckland mayoral election, under the banner of City Vision. In 2014, it was elected to the New Zealand House of Assembly under the Auckland City Party political banner. In 2015, it gained the seat of Manawatu-Wanganui, which it has held since the 1970s.