Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
With Labour today announcing their support for a version of the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, the Green Party is calling on Parliament to pass legislation to make it happen before the House rises for election 2026.
"Parliament can lower New Zealanders' power bills and reduce emissions before the election kicks off. Now both the red team and the blue team have announced their support for the Ratepayer Assistance scheme, there's no reason we can't progress on a cross-partisan agreement to do this right now," says Green Party Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.
"The Greens have offered the National Party our 15 votes to pass this scheme since the fossil fuel crisis first hit, months ago. Now both the legacy parties are on board, why don't we just get on with formalising the agreement already locked in? Every month waiting is another month families pay more than they need to for the basics."
"Passing the scheme right now takes unnecessary point-scoring off the election table, locks in progress and puts solar panels on roofs sooner. We can then have the election contest over the things parties genuinely disagree on."
"The Green Party will have plenty more to say on energy policy soon, but for now, we welcome Labour's contribution to the debate. We are stoked to see political parties now competing with each other over who can cut power bills and climate pollution fastest. That is the real contest of ideas our country deserves," says Swarbrick.
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