Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Principles and policies

The Green Party was founded to counter what it sees as threats to the natural environment. Environmental issues remain its main focus. In recent times, it has expressed concerns about mining of national parks, fresh water, peak oil and the release of genetically engineered organisms. The party strongly supports efforts to address climate change based on scientific evidence, by transitioning away from the burning of fossil fuels to renewable energy production, as well as making carbon pricing more transparent and bringing the agricultural sector into the Emissions Trading Scheme.

The Green Party has spoken out in support of human rights and against military operations conducted by the United States and other countries in Afghanistan and Iraq. The party has also expressed sympathy for the Palestinians and criticised the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

The party is also known for its advocacy on numerous social issues, such as the legalisation of marriage equality, the right to seek asylum and increasing the refugee quota, and gender equality.

The party accepts Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Māori language version of the treaty) 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 also states that measuring economic success should concentrate on measuring well-being rather than analysing economic indicators. The party wants the eventual introduction of a universal basic income.

The party has previously campaigned on legalising cannabis and "remov[ing] penalties for any person with a terminal illness, chronic or debilitating condition to cultivate, possess or use cannabis and/or cannabis products for therapeutic purposes, with the support of a registered medical practitioner". In the 2017–2020 term of the Sixth Labour Government, medicinal cannabis was legalised, but legalisation of recreational cannabis use was rejected in a 2020 referendum.

History

Foundations

The Green Party traces its origins to the Values Party, the world's first national-level environmentalist party. The Values Party originated in 1972 at Victoria University of Wellington. While it gained a measure of public support in several elections, the then first-past-the-post electoral system meant that the party did not win any seats in the House of Representatives. Some of the founding members of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, notably Jeanette Fitzsimons, Rod Donald and Mike Ward, had been active members of the Values Party at the outset of the Green movement in the 1970s.

At the 1989 local-body elections, multiple candidates stood for local government positions under the "Green" label. It saw the election of New Zealand's first Green city councillor, Stephen Rainbow, in Wellington. He was joined the next year by councillor Merrin Downing, who left the Citizens' Association to join the Greens.

In May 1990, remnants of the Values Party merged with a number of other environmentalist organisations to form the modern Green Party. This sparked a resurgence of support, with the new group winning 6.85% of the vote (but no seats) in the 1990 election.

The Alliance years

The following year, the Greens became co-founding members of the Alliance, a five-party grouping that also consisted of the Democrats, Liberals, Mana Motuhake and NewLabour Party. Immediately prior to this there had been limited co-operation between the parties running joint candidates in several local-body by-elections in Auckland. One candidate, Ruth Norman, was from the Greens and was elected to the Auckland Regional Council. At the Alliance's inaugural party conference in November 1992 party members elected Jeanette Fitzsimons from the Greens as a co-deputy leader of the Alliance.

The Greens contested the 1993 and 1996 elections as part of the Alliance. Membership of the Alliance was a controversial decision with a sizeable minority in the party remaining opposed to it. Consequently the party was plagued in the following few years by persistent calls for departure from the Alliance. Over time the issue became a more divisive issue internally until eventually a splinter party (the Progressive Green Party) was set up by members who were unhappy at the direction of the Alliance, which they believed was too left-wing and too focused on social justice type issues, detracting focus from environmental issues.

Until the 1995 annual conference in Taupō, the Greens had no elected leaders. At that conference, 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.

After New Zealand adopted the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system in 1996, the Alliance gained entry to Parliament, bringing three Green list MPs with them: Jeanette Fitzsimons, Rod Donald and Phillida Bunkle.

In 1997, feeling that membership of the Alliance had subsumed their identity, the Greens took the decision to stand candidates independently of the Alliance at the next election. While most of the Green party members left the Alliance, some decided, instead, to leave the Green Party and stay in the Alliance (including Bunkle, who would later be appointed Minister of Customs in the Labour-Alliance coalition government). Conversely, some of the Alliance party members, who joined the Alliance via other parties, decided to leave the Alliance and join the Green Party, notably Sue Bradford and Keith Locke, who both joined the Alliance via NewLabour.

Green Party in Parliament

In the 1999 election, the Greens gained 5.16% of the party vote and seven seats in Parliament. Fitzsimons also won the electorate seat of Coromandel; it is believed that this is the first time a Green candidate won a first-past-the-post parliamentary election. During the ten days it took to count special votes and confirm Fitzsimons' election, Labour concluded a coalition agreement with the Alliance which excluded the Greens. However, the party supported the government on confidence and supply in return for some input into the budget and legislation. This led to the Greens gaining a $15 million energy efficiency and environmental package in the new government's first budget. Over the term, the Greens developed a good working relationship with the government and also had some input into policy, notably Sue Bradford's amendments to the Employment Relations Act 2000.

In the 2002 election, the Greens polled 7.00%, increasing their strength in Parliament to nine seats, although they lost the Coromandel electorate. The electoral campaign featured strong tensions between the Greens and Labour. The Greens sharply criticised Labour for its plans to allow a moratorium on genetic engineering to expire, and believing that Labour would require their support to form a government, intended to make the extension of this moratorium a non-negotiable part of any deal. After the election, however, Labour and their coalition partner, the Jim Anderton-led Progressive Coalition, instead opted to rely on support from United Future, at that time a party with conservative Christian overtones.

Although the Greens no longer had any input into the budget, they maintained a close working relationship with the government, and the Greens remained involved in the legislation process. Often the government needed to rely on Green votes in the House to pass progressive legislation not approved by United Future. The government won praise from political commentators for juggling the two diametrically-opposed parties.

While the moratorium on genetic modification has now expired, the Greens remain heavily involved in attempts to prevent any GM releases under the new regulatory framework, and genetic engineering remains a major topic for the party.

In the 2005 election, the Greens won 5.30%, returning six of their MPs to Parliament. Despite expressing clear support for a Labour-led government during the campaign, they were excluded from the resulting coalition, due to a refusal by United Future and NZ First to work with the Greens in cabinet. They were, however, able to negotiate a cooperation agreement which saw limited input into the budget and broad consultation on policy. Both co-leaders were appointed as government spokespeople outside cabinet, with Fitzsimons responsible for Energy Efficiency, and Donald responsible for the Buy Kiwi Made campaign. However, Rod Donald died the day before Parliament was due to sit and the position of government spokesperson on Buy Kiwi Made was filled by Sue Bradford. Nándor Tánczos took up the vacant list position and the co-leader position remained vacant until a new co-leader, Russel Norman was elected at their 2006 annual general meeting. The other contenders for the position were Nándor Tánczos, David Clendon and former MP Mike Ward.

Local body elections

In the 2013 local elections, the Greens won three city council and two regional council seats in Wellington, a council seat in Dunedin, and also enjoyed success in Christchurch and Gisborne.

During the 2016 local elections, Green Dunedin candidate Aaron Hawkins was re-elected to the Dunedin City Council and was joined by the Green Party's first successful local or parliamentary Pasifika candidate, Councillor Marie Laufiso. During the 2016 Wellington local election, four Green candidates Sue Kedgley, Iona Pannett, Sarah Free, and David Lee were elected onto the Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Lambton, Eastern, and Southern Wards of the Wellington City Council. Several Green candidates also contested seats on the Auckland Council, local boards, and licensing trusts during the 2016 Auckland local body elections.

In addition, Brent Barrett was elected to Palmerston North City Council.

The 2019 New Zealand local elections were the most successful local body elections ever for the party, culminating in 42 successful candidates. Notably, Aaron Hawkins was elected Mayor of Dunedin, becoming the first Green Party candidate to ever win a mayoralty in New Zealand.

In addition, Brent Barrett was re-elected to the Palmerston North City Council and was joined by a second Green candidate Renee Dingwall. Future Green MP Teanau Tuiono also ran for the position of Mayor of Palmerston North but was defeated by the incumbent Grant Smith.

During the 2022 New Zealand local elections, ten Green branded candidates were elected to local government positions. Though Aaron Hawkins was defeated in his bid to be re-elected as Mayor of Dunedin, the Green-endorsed Tory Whanau was elected as Mayor of Wellington.

Green councillor Tamatha Paul was elected to the Wellington City Council (WCC) and became the chair of its new environment and infrastructure committee. In addition, Laurie Foon and Nīkau Wi Neera were elected to the WCC's Southern General Ward and Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori ward.

Structure

The party adopted a new constitution in 2022, named Te Waka Framework. This is a Te Tiriti-based structure that is derived from the party's charter and commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The framework contains four sections: Te Waka, Ngā Haumi, Te Hāpai, and Ngā Tumu, and is based on the journey of a waka.

Provinces and branches

A province is a collection of branches which has sufficient sense of common identity defined by natural geographical boundaries. Branches are a collection of members with an electorate-based geographical area of responsibility.

Networks

There are a number of identity or interest-based networks across the party. These include:

Degrowth Greens

Green Women (a network for women members)

Inclusive Greens (a network for members living with a disability)

Pasifika Greens (a network for members with Pasifika ancestry)

Rainbow Greens (a network for LGBTQIA+ members)

Rural Greens (a network for members with interests in rural and agricultural issues)

GreenLeft (a network for left-wing, anti-capitalist members)

Te Roopu Pounamu (a Māori network)

Union Greens (representing trade unions)

Young Greens

Electoral performance

Office holders

The party has six equal status office holders that form their leadership group:

two co-leaders (one female and one of any gender, one of whom must be Māori)

two party co-convenors (one female and one of any gender)

two policy co-convenors (one female and one of any gender)

The co-leaders lead the caucus, the party co-convenors lead the party executive, and the policy co-convenors lead the policy committee. The leadership group facilitates high level discussion and co-ordination between the three committees.

Co-convenors

Equivalent to the organisational president of other parties. Historically, there was always one male co-convenor and one female co-convenor. As of May 2022, the party's new constitution requires one female co-convenor and one co-convenor of any gender.

Policy co-convenors

Policy co-convenors are the leaders of the policy committee, which is autonomous from both the caucus and the party executive. While lower in public profile than the party co-convenors, the policy co-convenors are considered to have the same status as the party co-convenors, and are elected in the same way. As of May 2022, the party's new constitution requires one female policy co-convenor and one policy co-convenor of any gender.

Current members of parliament

The Green Party has 15 seats in parliament due its share of the party vote won in the 2023 general election.

Golriz Ghahraman resigned in January 2024 and was replaced by Celia Wade-Brown. Efeso Collins died on 21 February 2024 and was replaced by Lawrence Xu-Nan. Benjamin Doyle entered Parliament in November 2024 following the removal of Darleen Tana. Doyle resigned in October 2025 and was replaced by Mike Davidson. As of October 2025 the MPs are, in order of their 2023 election list ranking: