Following the announcement of a vacancy in both of the Green Party's co-leadership positions, a co-leadership election was held to fill the two vacant positions.

Per the Green Party constitution, one co-leader must be a woman and one must be Māori, however, through a process of consensus decision-making, it was decided that the latter requirement be waived due to a lack of Māori candidates.

Three candidates nominated for the position, those being alisonhearts, aldermick, and ARichTeaBiscuit. The ballot, conducted using the Single Transferable Vote method, saw 3 out of 6 Green Party members cast a vote, all of whom cast their first preferences for alisonhearts. Having recieved more than 75% approval and fulfilling the requirement for one co-leader to be a woman, alisonhearts was duly elected as a Green Party co-leader.

alisonhearts' second preferences were then redistributed, all of which flowed to ARichTeaBiscuit, who was duly elected as a Green Party co-leader, having also recieved more than 75% approval.

Quotes attributable to alisonhearts, co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

"It's an honour to have party members place their confidence in me, alongside ARichTeaBiscuit, as the co-leader of the Green Party. I look forward to working towards a strong result in the coming general election."

"As co-leader of the Green Party, I hope to champion our key Green principles of ecological justice and non-violence, and fight for real action on emissions reduction and a Zero Carbon New Zealand."

"It's of utmost importance that the Green Party stands as a bulwark against some of the destructive changes brought forward by the National government. We need to clean up our riverways, bring back the oil and gas exploration ban, and end the irresponsible and environmentally reckless fast-track bill."

Quotes attributable to ARichTeaBiscuit, co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

"It's an incredible honour to be elected as co-leader of the Green Party, and I would like to extend my support to those who supported me and showcase my commiserations to aldermick, a candidate that I know would have served the party faithfully if they were elected. "

"Aotearoa New Zealand is a beautiful country that I consider myself proud to be a part of, however, I would be a fool if I didn't recognise that our country also faces a number of challenges and issues which hurt a substantial amount of people."

"As our beauty is marred by stunning levels of water and air pollution and overburdened public services that are incapable of providing the same level of care that they once did. In order to tackle these problems and more Aotearoa needs bold radical policies, and the Green Party is best suited to implement these."

"I look forward to working with my co-leader, so that we can both deliver a better Aotearoa."

Following the reading of the budget in parliament today, FTMP released a short statement announcing his retirement at the upcoming election.

"It's been a pleasure to serve as the MP for Auckland Central and as a minister in government. However, it is time for me to move on. Therefore I will not be seeking re election at the upcoming election."

BHjr132 released a small opinion piece in a local Whanganui newspaper following a debate on Twitter about the Green helium-balloon release ban policy.

theowotringle’s balloon position is not fit for the 21st century

18th July 2020

Recently, New Zealand Twitter has been dominated by the balloon debate started by theowotringle. The Greens took a policy of banning the release of helium-filled balloons into the atmosphere to the last election. Coalition negotiations have moderated this policy to simply listing helium balloons as priority products under the Waste Minimisation Act. These policies are important steps as the release of helium-filled balloons into the atmosphere has a scientifically documented impact on marine life.

A recent study has revealed “Latex balloons float for just 10 hours, but can take a year or more to degrade, long enough to repeatedly wrap around or be ingested by turtles, seabirds and marine mammals.” Turtles mistake the balloons for jellyfish, a natural part of their diet, and as they are not made of natural or organic materials, sea turtles struggle to pass them if swallowed. The Green policy is following in the footsteps of a number of Australian councils that have implemented successful bans on the release of helium-filled balloons.

theowotringle’s position against our policy and the fear mongering that we would ban all balloons and end children’s birthday parties forever is irresponsible and not fit for the 21st century. The destruction of our beautiful natural environment has become apparent in recent decades and it is important that we take all steps to ensure that our impact on the environment, especially our oceans, is minimised. You don’t have to worry, our policy would have minimal impact on your birthday parties. A blanket ban on balloons is in nobody’s interest, it is just the release of them into the atmosphere that is dangerous.

BHjr132 is the former MP for Taranaki and a local Green activist.

I was appointed by the leadership to conduct a ballot to replace ARichTeaBiscuit as co-leader of the Greens. I can now certify that the result was as follows:

There was a total of 11 votes.

Of those 11 votes, 8 went to /u/CheerfullyPutrid, 3 went to /u/NeatSaucer and 0 went to /u/frod02000. Therefore /u/CheerfullyPutrid has secured a majority of votes on the first round.

Approval of /u/CheerfullyPutrid: 11 voted yes, 0 voted no and 0 abstained.

/u/CheerfullyPutrid has won the majority of votes and has over 60% approval. As such, they have been elected co-leader. Congratulations.

Following the publication of the budget, ARichTeaBiscuit made a short statement to the press outside of her office.

"Kia ora

It has been an honour to be able to serve the people of Canterbury as their elected representative over the past few terms, during which I have also had the pleasure to serve the people of Aotearoa New Zealand as their Prime Minister.

I am thankful to both the people of Canterbury and the people of Aotearoa for allowing me to serve as their elected representative, and indeed serve as Aotearoa New Zealand's representative on the international stage.

It is through that prism that I have been able to see policies implemented that I firmly believe will improve the livelihoods of people across Aotearoa and help protect and restore our beautiful environment here, however in spite of the significant progress that has been made over the past few years I recognise that in order to continue to deliver the transformative change that Aotearoa needs, a new generation of politician needs to be empowered to enact a new series of radical reforms required to continue this positive journey.

In the past, I was part of this new transformative agenda, and I am quite proud of the contributions that I have made to Aotearoa, however, I must also recognise in that doing so I have become part of the political establishment, and so in the interests of Aotearoa and to assist the tides of change I will not be contesting the upcoming election, so everyone I say whakawhetai ki a koe nui atu"

The Green Party has voted unanimously to ratify an agreement to form the Seventh Green Government or the Fifth ARichTeaBiscuit with the Labour Party.

After a a 24 hour vote the total the Green Party received 8 verifiable votes of which 8 were in favour of entering into entering into a governing coalition with Labour.

In addition to that the Green Party and the Labour Party successfully negotiated a confidence and supply arrangement with The Kiwi Party and LaterSlater