Green Party Co-leader Rod Donald has congratulated the leaders of Labour and National for highlighting the real issue in this election: the role and importance of the Greens in parliament over the next three years.

"New Zealanders face a simple choice on July 27th: either they give Labour absolute power to rule without any checks or balances, or they give the Greens enough support to keep the Clark government under control and heading in the right direction," said Rod Donald.

"Remember what happened last time Labour governed alone? Some of the front-bench faces might have changed since the Lange-Douglas governments of the 1980s but five of the ministers that sold off state assets and cut taxes for the wealthy remain, including Clark and Cullen.

"Compare that prospect with the stability of the last two and a half years.

"Helen Clark is portraying her administration as one of the most stable and honest in New Zealand political history. What she is conveniently neglecting to mention is the crucial role the Green Party played in keeping her Government so stable and so honest.

"Now - when we are offering practical partnership-policies to deal with issues such as child poverty, tertiary fees and the transport crisis - Labour is trying to distract voters from its own dearth of solutions to these challenges by attacking us over GE.

"Thanks to Helen and Bill, the country knows that we are a party that is not prepared to sacrifice principle for political expediency," said Rod Donald. "We have much to add to a Labour-led government, but on one single issue - the irrevocable contamination of our environment - we are not prepared to compromise any further.

"Instead of promoting our core principles Labour should find some of its own."

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