The Green Party has marked May Day with a pre-budget announcement in Tokoroa, detailing the party's plan for a Green Jobs Guarantee.
"New Zealanders should be in control of our economy, our jobs and our future. We don't need to leave our fate to be decided by international shareholders," says Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
"From the West Coast of the South Island, to Ohakune, to Tokoroa, in the last year alone, we've heard the same devastation driven by the same political decisions to let offshore companies decide the fate of regional communities.
"No more.
"Today, we launch our Green Jobs Guarantee, which will directly create at least 40,000 jobs across this country to rebuild our infrastructure, plant native trees and restore biodiversity, build homes and an economy that we, New Zealanders, own - and can genuinely be proud of.
"We've done it before and we can do it again. Before politicians took their hands off the wheel of the economy 40 years ago and sold off the assets we all used to own, we had a Ministry of Works. Our Ministry of Green Works builds on that proud tradition but is future fit for the climate transition.
"Our Future Workforce Agency, Mahi Anamata, will actively plan for the skills we need. We'll revitalise and supercharge the roaring success of Jobs for Nature, and we'll ensure everyone in this country who wants a good, decent, living-wage paying job will get one.
"In a time of global volatility, after a forty-year economic experiment that's failed regular people and is currently seeing record numbers leave the country, it's time to take back control and build our resilience.
"A better world is possible, and this is how we build it," says Chlöe Swarbrick.
