The Green Party's Ricardo Menéndez March

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recently spoke to media saying that the government would announce reforms to the Holidays Act that would impact sick leave entitlements for part time workers.

Under the suggested changes, sick leave entitlements would be processed under an accrual system, meaning that part-time workers working half the hours of their full-time counterparts may only earn half of their previously entitled sick leave.

In that same week, a directive was recently given to Te Whatu Ora - Health NZ to give private hospitals 10-year outsourcing contracts to perform elective surgeries.

And earlier this week Associate Education David Seymour announced a review of the funding for early childhood education.

For our weekly Catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez-March about all of these issues.

Last week the government announced a series of changes to 16 national direction instruments under the Resource Management Act that would change the way councils implement local plans and rules.

Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, described the changes as removing ‘unnecessary regulations’ for primary industries and investment, with the main changes being: removing freshwater management regulations for councils, removing regulations for the construction of mines and quarries and removing restrictions on non-intensive grazing of beef, cattle and deer in wetlands.

In that same week, Associate Education Minister, David Seymour made a series of changes to the pay parity scheme impacting primary school teachers, where education centres would not need to factor additional and higher qualifications when working out teacher’s starting salaries.

And, just recently, Workplace Relations and Safety minister Brooke van Velden recently announced that she’d be making a series of changes to WorkSafe in order to shift regulators priorities from enforcement to advice.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.

Yesterday the debate in the privileges committee regarding the suspension of Te Pāti Māori MPs Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi was adjourned until after the upcoming budget announcement.

The Privileges Committee Report and recommended punishments for the three Te Pāti Māori MPs were issued last week for the Haka they performed during a parliamentary session in November 2024 in opposition to the ACT party’s Treaty Principles Bill.

In that same week, the Green party recently issued a call to the government to scrap the Regulatory Standards Bill after the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Bill breaches the Crown’s Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.

And the government recently passed the Social Security Amendment Bill, which the government says would support people into employment and off benefits, however, opponents of the bill have said it could harm beneficiaries and lower income New Zealanders.

For our weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez-March about all of these issues.

Earlier this week, defence Minister Judith Collins announced that $2 billion would be set aside in this year’s budget to replace the Defence Force’s maritime helicopters.

This would be outside the additional $12 billion dollars that the government will be investing in the Defence Capability plan and would include another separate $1 Billion investment in the defence force over the next four years.

In that same week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith recently announced that Cabinet had reinstated a total ban on prisoners voting in general elections, overturning laws under the previous Labour government allowing prisoners serving less than three years to vote.

And Green Party MP Steve Abel recently added The Animal Products (Closing the Welfare Gap) Amendment Bill to the biscuit tin, which would ensure that imported products in New Zealand met our animal welfare standards.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Greens MP Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss all of these issues.