Greens launch plan to create 100,000 new jobs

The Green Party today launched their plan to create 100,000 new green jobs through business incentives and government leadership.

"Our plan will create 100,000 clean green jobs at the heart of a new economy for New Zealand," said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

"We will create 100,000 new jobs through direct government investment in housing, by ensuring our state-owned energy companies capture the massive export opportunities in renewable energy, and, most importantly, by shifting the drivers for green jobs in the private sector.

"As well as stimulating jobs at a time of economic uncertainty, our initiative will make our economy more resilient and protect our natural environment, without going further into debt.

"Our costed plans will mean we're able to pay down debt more quickly than the current Government is planning to."

The Green Party's economic priorities include plans for direct government investment, building sustainable infrastructure, supporting the greening of our small and medium-sized enterprises, driving clean technology innovation, introducing smarter regulation, getting the prices of resources and pollution right, protecting our '100% Pure' brand, reforming capital markets, making our workplaces fairer, and measuring progress differently.

"The current National Government's economic approach has been to risk our clean green brand for the sake of a quick buck," said Dr Norman.

"The majority of our lowland rivers are now polluted due to the unregulated expansion of the dairy industry. The three lignite plants under consideration will escalate our contribution to climate change. Spending $20 billion on highways over the next ten years is unbelievable when our train services are an embarrassment internationally and in great need of further investment.

"Our economic plan will not only create good jobs, it will speed the transition of our economy to a low-carbon, clean technology future."

The Green Jobs Initiative complements plans already announced to address child poverty in New Zealand and clean up our rivers and lakes.

"Jobs, rivers, and kids; it's a pretty compelling vision for a richer New Zealand," Dr Norman said.