The Sustainable New Zealand Party
The latest political party has an initial website here and is seeking 500 members so they can register.
They explain their background:
We believe it is time for a new political party that champions a politics of sustainability.
Sustainability is based on the principle that everything we need for our survival and well-being depends on our natural environment. It means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Our focus on sustainability means that we would be able to work with political parties on the left or right of politics to ensure that the environment is always a top political priority regardless of who makes up the government.
Our primary focus is on environmental matters such as clean water, sustainable oceans, protection of our native species, dealing with climate change
They explain that only minor parties in the centre get political power under MMP:
The Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) system means that minor parties can have a major influence on a government as part of a coalition. The coalition arrangements of the current government allocated billions of dollars to political trophies and slush funds – the price of NZ First support for a Labour-led Government. We have also seen the scrapping of important environmental initiatives like the mandatory installation of cameras on fishing boats because the fishing industry are key NZ First donors and supporters. MMP should deliver better outcomes than this.
NZ First has also stopped the largest marine sanctuary in the world, in the Kermadecs.
The Green Party has made a deliberate decision not to use the leverage that comes with the number of MPs they have in Parliament. Instead of negotiating with both major parties, they have made a decision to always support the formation of a Labour Government meaning that Labour can take them for granted. This is no way to get the best deal for the environment.
Having given away their negotiating advantage, they are in a weak position to demand funding for cleaner beaches and rivers, for modern sewage infrastructure in major cities, for sustainable management of our fisheries, a major upgrade in predator control, nor for the significant increases in science and research funding that will underwrite a modern, sustainable economy.
It is obvious to everyone that NZ First has massively more influence than the Greens, despite getting only slightly fewer more votes. The reason is because they have political leverage.
The Greens have a historic tendency to be suspicious of scientific innovation – particularly in biotechnology – and hostile to business. New Zealand deserves a political party that will work together with the innovators in business and science who will lead the way through the complex and interconnected sustainability challenges of the coming century.
An environmental party that will work with both science and business would be welcome.
If you want to see a party in Parliament that puts the environment first – that is prepared to deal with either National or Labour – and puts clean water, sustainable fisheries, protection of our native species, climate change and a sustainable economy and society at the top of the political agenda, please register your details below.
From what I can tell this is not a blue-green party, Nor it is the red-green party of The Greens. It is a green-green party,