25 July 2005

Greens looking forward to hard, clean campaign

Green Party Co-Leaders Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald say they relish the opportunity to debate the issues important to New Zealanders in the lead-up to the General Election on Saturday 17 September.

"Election campaigns provide all political parties with a platform to talk to the public about the challenges that we face as a nation," Ms Fitzsimons said. "We're looking forward to meeting Kiwis in many communities to offer workable solutions on how to make this country a better place.

"Whether you're talking about cleaning up rivers, keeping our food chain safe, creating a fairer society, or meeting our country's energy needs in a sustainable way, the Greens have fresh and interesting ideas to offer."

Mr Donald said the Greens were looking forward to an issues-oriented campaign.

"While Labour and National have been throwing mud at each other in the past few weeks, the Greens believe that what voters crave is a clean, issues-based campaign.

"We'll be playing hard - underlining the very dangerous future that lies ahead if New Zealanders opt for National and highlighting the many policy differences we have with Labour - but we'll be playing fair. I'm calling on all parties to stick to the issues, while not shrinking from robust debate about which policies are best for our country's future.

"Despite our differences, the Greens and Labour have a lot in common and have worked together closely over the past three years. Our aim is to be returned to Parliament with enough MPs so that we are in a position to form a Labour/Green Government after the election."

Green Party National Campaign Manager Russel Norman said the Greens would be campaigning primarily for the party vote in 2005.

"The Greens are better prepared than we've ever been for this election campaign. We've got 53 electorate candidates and 5 list-only candidates, including three based overseas. All our candidates will be campaigning hard for party votes. Our billboards will be going up in the next few weeks."

ENDS

© Scoop Media