The Green Party has used its 2026 State of the Planet<\/em> address to argue that New Zealand must break its dependence on global fossil\u2011fuel markets and adopt a Government\u2011led National Electrification Plan. The speech comes as the party records its latest result in the 1News Verian Poll<\/strong>, a data point that continues to shape the political backdrop for its climate\u2011focused messaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Co\u2011leader Marama Davidson<\/strong> opened the address by linking the Middle East crisis to New Zealand\u2019s vulnerability to global energy shocks. She said the conflict was \u201cfirst and foremost a human catastrophe\u201d, citing civilian deaths, destroyed livelihoods and breaches of international law. Davidson argued that long\u2011standing Green warnings about fossil\u2011fuel dependence and food sovereignty were no longer theoretical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThose were not abstract concerns. They are what families across this country are living through right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Co\u2011leader Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick<\/strong> used her section of the speech to outline the Greens\u2019 proposed National Electrification Plan<\/strong>, which she described as the practical response to the fossil\u2011fuel crisis. The plan would electrify homes, transport and industry, reduce household power bills, and insulate New Zealand from volatile global fuel markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Swarbrick said the cost\u2011of\u2011living crisis, the fossil\u2011fuel crisis and the climate crisis were \u201cthe same problem\u201d, driven by systems that \u201cprioritise profit over people and planet\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She argued that a resilient economy must be powered by \u201chomegrown sun, wind, water and geothermal energy\u201d, not supply chains that pass through geopolitical flashpoints such as the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Greens reiterated their call for rooftop solar and battery support for homeowners, renters, marae, schools and farms<\/strong>, saying the Government should immediately back the Ratepayers\u2019 Assistance Scheme promoted by groups including Rewiring Aotearoa. According to the party, the scheme could save the average household around $1000 a year on power bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Swarbrick also criticised the Government\u2019s earlier rejection of public\u2011transport funding, saying a proposed $150 million network expansion was cheaper than \u201cthree quarters of just one of the subsidies the Luxon Government is instead dishing out to support fossil\u2011fuel dependence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The party wants the Government to commit to a full National Electrification Plan<\/strong>, including an industrial strategy to electrify freight and production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need Government to put its hands back on the wheel of the economy, not leave the fate of our country to bets in boardrooms,\u201d Swarbrick said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Davidson closed the address by arguing that Government should \u201cwork for the people and the planet, not for the greed of corporations\u201d, saying New Zealand could still \u201creverse the damage that has been done\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Colin Ambler\/cvnznews.com The Green Party has used its 2026 State of the Planet address to argue that New Zealand must break its dependence on global fossil\u2011fuel markets and adopt a Government\u2011led National Electrification Plan. The speech comes as the party records its latest result in the 1News Verian Poll, a data point that continues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[304,1041,113,257],"coauthors":[709],"class_list":{"0":"post-12199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-election26","9":"tag-green-party","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12201,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12199\/revisions\/12201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12199"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=12199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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