Green Party - Response to policy request Contributing to an Election 2008 feature in Kiwi Parent

Parenting Environment – Taking into account housing affordability, the rising cost of food and high rates of inflation, what I your parties view on creating an environment where mothers and fathers can parent effectively?

The Greens believe that everyone deserves a standard of living that enables them to participate in their community with sufficient income for their personal and family's well-being. Our considerable income support and affordable housing policies seek to achieve these ends. Specificpolicy highlights include:

- A Universal Child Benefit with the ability to capitalise it towards a home deposit.

- A tax-free threshold of $5,000 of everyone's income.

- Initiatives to encourage third sector/community-based housing, such as co-operative housing, eco-villages, self-built, sweat equity housing, shared ownership, and papakainga housing.

-An increasein the proportion of state houses in Housing New Zealand’s rental market.

- An immediate increase in the minimum wage to $15/hour and improvements to the welfare system.

Action Plan for Women – What are your views on the Action Plan for Women and how does your party value and respect women’s ambitions and aspirations, not only in the workforce?

The Green Party generally supports the Action Plan for Women, and, moreover, we are deeply committed to ending both structural and indirect discrimination against women. However, while the Action Plan aims to increase women’s contribution to our economy, the Greens feel strongly that women’s unpaid work should be equally valued and recognised.

The passage of Sue Kedgley’s Flexible Working Arrangements Bill into law was a step towards helping women achieve greater work-life balance by ensuring we all have the right to negotiate greater flexibility in working hours and location, especially during school holidays and when children are sick. Sue Bradford currently has a Bill before Parliament which aims to allow women in prison to continue caring for and breastfeeding their babies.

The Green Party is committed to ensuring women can reach their aspirations, whether in the paid or unpaid workforce. We will work hard to eliminate the gender pay gap by establishing a Pay Equity Commission and by reforming Paid Parental Leave to provide 14 weeks paid leave at 100% of wages. We will also introduce a Universal Child Benefit, and support a wide ranging public debate on a Universal Basic Income to recognise the value of caring for children and other dependants, as well as voluntary community work. We are passionate about reducing the burden of student debt on women and support a universal student allowance and capping and reducing tertiary fees. Education should be the right of every woman, and it should not come with a lifetime of debt that can impact on when or even if we have a children.

We recognise and support the leadership of wahine Maori on both social and environmental issues. And, we plan to resource a series of nation wide hui of wahine Maori to discuss and determine their priorities and needs for the future and implement programmes and policies to reduce existing social and economic disparities between Maori and non-Maori women.

Finally, we believe it is essential to secure and maintain financial support for agencies that provide safe houses and refuge for women and children living in violent relationships.

Family Violence – What will your party do to ensure facilities and resources are available for families to help those at risk free themselves from violence?

Non-violence is one of the four principles that guide the Green Party. It is essential to everything we do and believe. Addressing the issue of violence in the home is as much of a priority for us as climate change. We have a range of comprehensive policies across several policy areas. To give some specific examples we support:

· An ongoing review of our police and justice systems to ensure access to justice and promote rehabilitation

· More resources for the Skip programme which educates and supports families to learn alternatives to violence, including extending it to cover children up to teenage years

· Full resourcing of the Domestic Violence Act 1995.

· The full funding of community, hapu and iwi groups who work with families, women and children - and men - on family violence issues

· The continuation of the Government ‘It’s Not Okay’ Campaign and associated initiatives.

· Ending the isolation, poverty and lack of access to adequate housing which unevenly impact on women and children and hinder their ability to seek safety.

· The establishment of a cross party working group to put the interests of children first in policy development.

The Green Party is also committed to maintaining the changes achieved with the amendments to s59 of the Crimes Act in 2007, and working in an ongoing away with church and community organisations to do everything we can to end the culture of violence which permeates too many NZ homes and families to this day.

Families Commission – What value do you place on the role of the Families Commission in New Zealand? What is your party’s intention towards the Families Commission, do you intend to keep it, disband it or change its current form.

Initially we opposed the establishment of the Families Commission as we believed the resources would be better directed towards the improved resourcing of the Office for the Commissioner for Children and front-line services for families. The Commission has however produced a considerable body of useful work and been a good advocate for children and families, so we are reviewing our position. We would welcome feedback on this issue.

Education – What value do you place on early childhood education versus the role of the parent in raising their child and what policies does your party have to allow parents sufficient time with their children for attachment and connection to occur?

The Green Party believes parents need to be able to make positive choices about staying at home or working part or full-time, and be supported in their choices. We share the concerns of many that parenting is undervalued because it is not paid and is deemed not to contribute directly to GDP. We believe the best way to help parents get sufficient time with their children is to make sure they can afford not to be at work all the time and have the right to negotiate flexible hours if they do choose to be in paid employment. We will work towards this by reforming Paid Parental Leave to provide 14 weeks paid leave at 100% of wages, introducing a Universal Child Benefit, and supporting a wide ranging public debate on a Universal Basic Income to recognise the value of caring for children and community work. Sue Kedgley’s Flexible Working Arrangements Act will give parents the right to negotiate with employers for a deal that allows them to better balance paid work and family responsibilities. We believe it should be possible for a family to survive on the equivalent of one full-time income and will continue to campaign for increases in the minimum wage and vigorously defend the Domestic Purposes Benefit – which is surely about ensuring parents have adequate time to care for their children during difficult times.

The Green Party strongly supports the equitable provision of high quality early childhood education for all children and decent childcare for those that choose to go back to work

Learning difficulties - In 2007 the spectrum of dyslexic thinking was recognised. What investment will your party make in supporting and resourcing children who learn differently?

The Green Party supports the development of an inclusive education system. We will provide specialist services through Group Special Education for children with low to medium learning needs. Our education policy states that all children identified as having a special learning need will have an individual education plan. We think every child has a right to have their educational needs met whether or not they have special learning needs and that it is absolutely essential that we put enough money into education before cutting taxes.

Breastfeeding – How does your party plan to encourage and better support breastfeeding women?

The Green Party strongly supports changes to protect and promote breastfeeding, including legal protection to mothers and ensuring workplaces make provision for it. We will fund education and support programmes for new mothers to encourage breastfeeding and improve resources and educational services for organisations that provide support for mothers who are breastfeeding to ensure children have the best possible start to life.

Health – Dollars invested in early intervention and primary health care are marked to deliver outcomes. What policies does your party have to ensure a high standard of health care is available for all New Zealand families?

The Green Party health policy gives top priority to preventative healthcare, health promotion and early intervention. We believe giving every child a fair chance at a healthy life starts with addressing the underlying causes of illness, like poverty and damp housing, poor diet and lack of exercise, air and water pollution and inadequate education. We believe health services need to be accessible when and where New Zealanders need them, regardless of our ability to pay. We support free primary healthcare for children under six and believe early intervention programmes need to be coupled with adequate funding to address any problems identified. The Green Party believes food should be our best medicine and we are passionate about improving the food our children eat. We secured 12 million dollars of Government funding for a Nutrition Fund to help schools shift to healthier food options, and we have long campaigned to get advertising for unhealthy food off children’s television. We don’t think parents should have to compete with the vested interests of those who spend millions promoting unhealthy food to children and we will continue to campaign against any industry that puts profits ahead of our nation’s health.

Maternity care – Many parts of New Zealand struggle to cope with inadequate birthing facilities, crowded delivery suites, too few midwives and stretched neonatal facilities…how do you plan to address this shortage?

The Green Party believes every woman should be empowered to choose the most appropriate birth facility and have the right to access that care. We will work to ensure all women have the choice of a lead maternity carer, e.g. midwives, GPs, particularly in rural areas. The Green Party believes that the length of hospital stay following birth should be determined by the physical and emotional needs of the woman concerned and we are utterly opposed to women being pushed out of hospital or offered rewards for leaving before they feel ready for life at home with their new baby. For women who choose to leave hospital early, the Greens will provide better access to post-natal care at home, especially in rural areas. We also strongly support parents’ right to stay with babies in neo-natal care and we want live-in facilities for parents in neo-natal units. We support making more information and support available for home birth.

The Green Party is very concerned that crowded and overstretched neonatal units are endangering the lives of babies. It is of critical importance that we have enough neonatal beds in New Zealand so that a unit can be closed down if we face another outbreak of an antibiotic resistant superbug. The Green Party would ensure that our neonatal capacity reflects these needs.

Well Child Services – Parents Centres believes the Well Child starts with Well Parents. What is your party’s view of Well Child services to encompass the Well Parent pre birth and conception?

The Green Party agrees that healthy children start with healthy parents. Our policy includes a free annual wellness check for every New Zealander and we hope this will assist with early intervention and helping people stay well. We believe that living in a healthy environment and having affordable healthcare when you need it are essential. We know that many chemicals and toxins can damage fertility or harm an unborn child and we also know that the nutritional status of a mother even before her child is conceived can have lifelong implications for that child’s wellbeing. That’s why we put such a high priority on getting toxic chemicals out of our environment and making sure all Kiwis can access safe and healthy food. The Green Party will review all pesticides and chemicals for their endocrine-disrupting potential and phase out any chemical found to be hazardous to reproductive health. We will also provide research funding into the epidemiology of endometriosis and other hormonally induced illnesses that affect fertility and health.

The Green Party supports both improved access to family planning services and more effective education for children and young people about the responsibilities of parenting. We think healthy, non-violent parenting is a societal responsibility and that it starts with building a fairer society and reducing the isolation and financial stress that many young parents experience. We believe the fairest thing a socially responsible Government could do is to increase the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour and raise benefits to levels people can actually live on in 2008.