Greens have best policy but it will be hard to be a supporter this election
The Green’s State of the Planet address provided the exact type of policy NZ is desperately needing…
The Green Party has used its 2026 State of the Planet address to set out a vision for a resilient, independent Aotearoa and to call on the Government to create a National Electrification Plan.
“What is happening in the Middle East is first and foremost a human catastrophe. Civilians are being killed and injured. Livelihoods are being destroyed. International law is being broken,” says Green Party Co-leader, Marama Davidson.
“The warnings about fossil fuel dependence, about food sovereignty, about what happens when a small country ties its fate to extractive, corporate and ultimately unstable global systems, those were not abstract concerns. They are what families across this country are living through right now.”
The plan would electrify homes, transport and industry, ending New Zealand’s dependence on unpredictable global fossil fuel markets, cutting household power bills, and building real energy security at home.
“There is no trade-off between fixing the cost of living, addressing the fossil-fuel crisis and climate crisis. They are the same problem, all driven by the same rules that prioritise profit over people and planet,” says Green Party Co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick.
“If we want a resilient economy, we’ve got to power it with homegrown sun, wind, water and geothermal energy. That doesn’t need to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”
“We can lower the cost of living by rolling out rooftop solar and batteries for all, homeowners, renters, marae, schools, farms.”
Swarbrick called for the Government to immediately support the Ratepayers’ Assistance Scheme, an initiative backed by groups such as Rewiring Aotearoa.
“It’s simple, fast, and it cuts the upfront cost barrier for thousands of New Zealanders. We know this will save the average household a $1000 on their power bill,” says Swarbrick.
The speech also called for boosting funding for public transport networks across the country that were previously rejected by the Government.
“It would have cost $150 million to expand the networks, just three quarters of just oneof the subsidies the Luxon Government is instead dishing out to support fossil fuel dependence.”
The Party called for the Government to work towards a National Electrification Plan.
“The same arguments that have made sense forever – cleaner air, cheaper living, less congestion, easier ways of getting people around – make even more sense when we also need to conserve the fuel for those who don’t yet have another option,” says Swarbrick.
“We need an industrial strategy electrifying freight and production, which requires Government to put its hands back on the wheel of the economy, not leave the fate of our country to bets in boardrooms.”
Marama Davidson said, “our government should work for the people and the planet, not for the greed of corporations, their faceless boards and shareholders. Together we can reverse the damage that has been done and make decisions for the good of everyone.”
…Fitch Ratings analysts warned NZ in 2024 that the next 10 years of economic growth were dangerously stunted.
This matters because it is ratings analysts like Fitch who warn the market if we are good for all the money we borrowed.
They base that on future projections of our economic cycle and their analysis is terrible.
Fitch have made clear to us that Dairy, Tourism and exports to China have waned and can not grow beyond the manner in which we have already grown them…
He told BusinessDesk that Fitch sees the drivers of growth in the decade before Covid as having “run their course”.
In other words dairy, tourism and China export growth – while continuing to be large and core components of New Zealand’s economy – can’t possibly continue on the same dramatic growth curve they did before.
…John Key’s, ‘All our cows in one Beijing paddock’ has not only been geopolitically dangerous, it’s also run its economic course.
This Government seem to think mining, gas and oil exploration alongside weakening regulations for donors will unlock NZs next economic cycle but it can’t and won’t…
The idea that we’ll mine our way to prosperity is one of those. It may well be an industry worth promoting, but betting the house (or more specifically our clean green reputation) on it being transformational is just silly.
We mined the big accessible gold deposits in 19th and 20th centuries. The odds of finding valuable rare metals like lithium are very low. It would be great if we did but if that’s this Government’s strategy, they might as well buy Lotto tickets.
Striking oil is also a long shot and the time frames involved to find it and get it out of the ground take us well past 2030 – the date by which the International Energy Agency has forecast the world will face a “staggering” glut.
If Kiwis ever wanted to be a rich oil-producing nation (and a large percentage don’t) we’ve missed that boat.
…if we are to play to our advantages, we need to play to the one that will provide the most impact to all of us.
Cheap, 100% renewable electricity!
When we look at what gave New Zealand a competitive advantage in the 20th, cheap electric power is near the top of the list.
The dairy industry was built on the ability to turn liquid milk into powder more efficiently than our competitors.
The next wave of global economic growth will involve electricity and lots of it.
Artificial intelligence is incredibly power-hungry. One Chat-GPT search uses 10 times the power of a Google search.
Throw electrical vehicles on top of that and it becomes obvious – only countries with access to a cheap, stable power supply will have a competitive advantage in the years ahead.
There has been plenty of talk about the potential for New Zealand to be a world leader in data centres. To do that we’ll need more and ideally cheaper power.
Collectively, data centres will consume about 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity at peak usage – roughly the amount required to power some 200,000 homes. The average demand in Auckland is about 1700MW. That has been forecast to rise to 500MW of consumption over the next five years based on current plans.
…solar panels on every public building.
Local wind turbine generation.
Windfarms.
Electric public transport.
More Hydro.
Tidal generation investment.
This needs to be our way forward. Not more Dairy and more cheap basic exports to China and Tourism.
Cheap sustainable electricity is our competitive edge, we need to urgently focus on that now!
Shane is in the pocket of Mining, he is gaining Fast Track Power for his donors, not for NZ.
We need better ideas than the ones currently being pushed.
So, the Greens easily have the best policy BUT it will be hard to be a supporter this election because any gains they make won’t really be seen until the Special’s get counted.
The Greens have to appeal to the youth non vote WHILE chasing voters who have moved to Australia, both of those groups are invisible in NZ political polling so the Greens could make real inroads but we won’t know it until the final votes are counted.
You will have to be a true believer to get through the low polling to see the real gains they could make in the Specials.
You say the Greens have the best policy but you say it is hard to support them!? Your explanation of this reverse logic is obtuse. Something about special votes and chasing new votes. Are you trying to say the Greens will only ‘steal’ ‘Labour votes’? You know better than most the relative distribution of Labour and Green MP’s won’t affect whether there is a left government. Surely you are not promoting the old incorrect trope that a vote for the Greens is one less vote for Labour, therefore less chance of a Labour led government. If you want a Labour government with a spine to be effectively transformational, the more Green MP’s the better. Perhaps you could give Labour some advice on how they can capture some wavering middle voters and not lose them to Winston.
Yawn. The reason it will be hard Richard is because the growth in Green support will occur in the youth non vote and in the Australian youth diaspora who have moved in the last 2 years. So the Greens could be having an amazing campaign, but we won’t see it in the polling until the specials come in. That is why it will be hard to support them because you won’t see their real strength until the specials get counted – that is why it will be hard to be a supporter. Everything else you have written is garbage.
Usually the Greens are quieter in the polls when in opposition as they struggle to get media cut through. So the addage that any publicity is good publicity holds true for their polling.
Glad to read that you agree they easily have the best policy! I also think so.
67 yrs old.Nat in youth. Green supporter now.
If Green’s state of the planet visions are implemented it would be a huge boost for the Left. However until Labour bring out their policies, after 28/5 budget, we will have to hope they are astute and politically mature enough to bring in some very transformative ones. The Left also need sufficient revenue to clean up the mess our economy is in. Do trust Left parties don’t cancel each other out with the Maori seats. Meanwhile, I’m flabbergasted at Luxon’s pig-headed, arrogant, vainglorious stance! He is totally embarrassing!
Electrifying is a good idea but every dam ,windfarm and solar farm has a group opposing it.Often these groups are fronted by environmentalists who would likely be Green members.
Do you have evidence? You are probably correct regarding hydro dams although opposition to solar farms and wind power tends to come from the opposite side.
No they are fronted by farmers who have decades of misogynistic behavior. That’s why they hate the Greens because the farmers will be required to finally clean up their mess. Your continued hate of the Greens is noted Trevor.