Cabinet has approved, in principle, a move to amend the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 to provide a statutory power for the senior courts to make declarations of inconsistency under the Bill of Rights Act, and to require Parliament to respond.

Only the election on September 23 can save the country and the RMA from Nick Smith, say Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford and Environment spokesperson David Parker.

New Zealanders need to hear from National about how they will fund the clean-up of our rivers and lakes for future generations. Instead, National has broadened its scare-mongering, says Labour’s Water spokesperson David Parker.

National is falling into a bad pattern of promising the world and not saying how they will fund it, says Labour’s Water spokesperson David Parker.

National must categorically rule out using retrospective legislation to override the Supreme Court’s decision that the land swap of conservation land flooded by the proposed Ruataniwha Dam was illegal, says Labour’s Shadow Attorney General David Parker.

“Having not got their own way with the nation’s highest court, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Conservation have arrogantly said they will look to change the law after the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal decision.

National have a slacker standard for swimmable rivers than was the case prior to their recent so-called Clean Water amendment to the National Policy Statement (NPS), says Labour’s Water spokesperson David Parker.

“The table 11 on page 25 of the NIWA report shows that rivers previously classified as unswimmable are now classed swimmable.

The Our Fresh Water Environment 2017 report re-confirms that we need urgent action to clean up our rivers. Meanwhile, National is standing by as our rivers get even more polluted, says Labour’s Environment spokesperson David Parker.

“This report is yet more evidence that many of New Zealand’s rivers and lakes are in a bad way.

Labour is welcoming the Productivity Commission’s new report on urban planning, saying many of the recommendations reflect Labour policy.

The Bill originally drafted by Shane Jones and designed to help media access government information is back in Parliament before the man, says Labour’s Shadow Attorney General David Parker.

Nick Smith’s latest announcement is another political scam which will not clean up our polluted rivers, says Labour’s Water spokesperson David Parker.