10 February 2007

Fitzsimons announces leadership decision

Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons will stay at the helm of the Party through the next election and beyond saying there is too much important work still to be done.

Ms Fitzsimons, 62, made the announcement this afternoon at the Party’s North Island Summer Policy Conference in Rotorua.

“I have far too much energy to step down yet and with New Zealand rapidly grasping the importance of environmental issues, there is much important work to be done,” she says.

Ms Fitzsimons had told the party after the 2005 election that she planned to step down during this term leaving Rod Donald and a new female Co-Leader to take the Greens through the 2008 election.

“Rod died soon after I made that announcement and since then I have been reconsidering my decision to retire, but, in the end I realised I still had much to contribute to the Greens and to New Zealand.

“My new Co-Leader Russel Norman and my fellow Green MPs and I will be focusing our efforts on getting more Green MPs into Parliament in 2008 and if our current polling trend continues, there will be a lot of them.

“With some tough decisions needing to be made in the near future to tackle climate change, we will need as many Green voices in the House as possible to make sure the Government does the right thing,” Ms Fitzsimons says.

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