The Green Party has 14 MPs in Parliament right now. There are Green Parties in other countries so many people already know about their policies. The NZ Green party for this election has three major policies: a cleaner environment, a smarter economy and a fairer society.
The Party wants cleaner water in rivers and lakes, clean enough for people to swim in.
Their policy for a smarter economy includes better transport, especially improving railways. They say it is better to use rail more instead of building more roads. This would reduce traffic on busy roads as well as reducing carbon emissions. The Green Party plans to invest $1 billion in Research and Development for companies to help their business grow.
A fairer society means ending child poverty and making houses warmer. Many poor people live in cold, damp homes which means they get sick more easily. The Greens want free doctors’ visits for children up to the age of 18. They also want to extend free early childhood education to include 2 year olds.
They want to give more money also to educate children with disabilities. The Green Party uses sign language interpreters in their TV advertisements so that deaf people can understand. One of their MPs, Mojo Mathers, is deaf. Listen to February 14th 2012 to hear more about Mojo Mathers.
The Green Party will probably be in coalition with the Labour Party if together they have 61 MPs.
Go to the Green Party website to read more about their policies.
Vocabulary
• policies – their beliefs, plans for the future
• carbon emissions – carbon in the atmosphere as a result of burning fuel
• disabilities – children who do not grow and develop the same as most other children
Questions
• How can water quality in rivers and lakes be improved?
• How could the Greens make houses warmer?
• Why do they want to extend early childhood education to 2 year olds? Do you think this is a good idea?