26 June, 2002

The Green Party has become the first major political movement in New Zealand history to do more than pay lip service to gender equity, with the release today of its candidate list.

"I am delighted to announce that the party has selected five women amongst the top 10 candidates and 10 amongst the top 20," said Green Party Co-leader, Jeanette Fitzsimons.

The Party has delivered a vote of confidence in its seven sitting MPs by placing them again in the top seven spots, with young Maori lawyer Metiria Turei occupying the next slot on the list.

"We have five Maori amongst the top 30 candidates and a wide range of ages, skills and backgrounds," said Jeanette Fitzsimons. "This list will deliver the infusion of fresh faces and fresh thinking that Parliament badly needs."

Co-leader Rod Donald said the fresh faces would deliver a range of talents to complement those of the sitting MPs.

"I'm looking forward to candidates of the calibre of Metiria and Meriel [Soil and Health director, Meriel Watts] and Jon [consumer advocate Jon Carapiet] and Cathy [student leader, Cathy Olsen] joining us in the House.

"We are well on course to double our party vote at this election and that will deliver another seven Green MPs. The great thing about this list is that the quality of the next 14 can give the public confidence to deliver us an even bigger vote.

"We hope voters look closely at our policies and that they look even more closely at our people, because they are the ones who will deliver those policies."

Candidates were listed by a postal ballot involving the entire party membership.

Top 20: Jeanette Fitzsimons 1, Rod Donald 2, Sue Bradford 3, Nandor Tanczos 4, Sue Kedgley 5, Ian Ewen-Street 6, Keith Locke 7, Metiria Turei 8, Mike Ward 9, Catherine Delahunty 10, Roland Sapsford 11, Meriel Watts 12, Jon Carapiet 13, Richard Davies 14, Celia Wade-Brown 15, Cathy Olsen 16, Russel Norman 17, Janine McVeagh 18, Steffan Browning 19, Dayle Belcher 20. (Brief bio's and contact numbers for the top 20 list candidates are supplied on attached sheet)

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