Source: Green Party
The Green Party has used its 2026 State of the Planet address to set out a vision for a resilient, independent Aotearoa and to call on the Government to create a National Electrification Plan.
Co-leader Marama Davidson spoke about the middle-east crisis, the case for an independent, principled foreign policy, and the Green Party’s consistent stance on getting off fossil fuels.
“What is happening in the Middle East is first and foremost a human catastrophe. Civilians are being killed and injured. Livelihoods are being destroyed. International law is being broken,” says Green Party Co-leader, Marama Davidson.
“The warnings about fossil fuel dependence, about food sovereignty, about what happens when a small country ties its fate to extractive, corporate and ultimately unstable global systems, those were not abstract concerns. They are what families across this country are living through right now.”
Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick set out the Green Party’s call for a National Electrification Plan as the practical response to the fossil fuel crisis on top of the Party’s previous calls for free public transport and measures to ease the cost of living.
The plan would electrify homes, transport and industry, ending New Zealand’s dependence on unpredictable global fossil fuel markets, cutting household power bills, and building real energy security at home.
“There is no trade-off between fixing the cost of living, addressing the fossil-fuel crisis and climate crisis. They are the same problem, all driven by the same rules that prioritise profit over people and planet,” says Green Party Co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick.
“If we want a resilient economy, we’ve got to power it with homegrown sun, wind, water and geothermal energy. That doesn’t need to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”
“We can lower the cost of living by rolling out rooftop solar and batteries for all, homeowners, renters, marae, schools, farms.”
Swarbrick called for the Government to immediately support the Ratepayers’ Assistance Scheme, an initiative backed by groups such as Rewiring Aotearoa.
“It’s simple, fast, and it cuts the upfront cost barrier for thousands of New Zealanders. We know this will save the average household a $1000 on their power bill,” says Swarbrick.
The speech also called for boosting funding for public transport networks across the country that were previously rejected by the Government.
“It would have cost $150 million to expand the networks, just three quarters of just one of the subsidies the Luxon Government is instead dishing out to support fossil fuel dependence.”
The Party called for the Government to work towards a National Electrification Plan.
“The same arguments that have made sense forever – cleaner air, cheaper living, less congestion, easier ways of getting people around – make even more sense when we also need to conserve the fuel for those who don’t yet have another option,” says Swarbrick.
“We need an industrial strategy electrifying freight and production, which requires Government to put its hands back on the wheel of the economy, not leave the fate of our country to bets in boardrooms.”
Marama Davidson said, “our government should work for the people and the planet, not for the greed of corporations, their faceless boards and shareholders. Together we can reverse the damage that has been done and make decisions for the good of everyone.”
