MEDIA ADVISORY

James Shaw to accept 16,000-strong KiwiSaver cluster bomb petition

James Shaw will today accept a 16,000-strong petition calling on Commerce Minister Paul Goldsmith and Prime Minister John Key to tighten up the law around KiwiSaver investments in land mines, cluster bombs and nuclear weapons.

“There’s a simple action the Government can take to ensure our money is not being invested in companies that make cluster bombs, nuclear weapons, or land mines – make it clearly illegal to do so,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.

“It’s not okay to make money from companies making weapons that end up blowing kids' legs off or leave our world more vulnerable to a nuclear catastrophe.

“Currently, there is no clarity around the law on investing in ‘illegal’ weapons of war.

“The Government has been reluctant to set any clear guidelines around ethical investment of KiwiSaver funds, leaving it up to individuals, which is a big ask.

“The Government itself isn’t even sophisticated enough to know what it is investing in. Green Party Parliamentary questions show that the responsible minister, Paul Goldsmith, didn’t even ask KiwiSaver providers tendering to be default providers what exactly they were invested in and whether this included companies that made cluster bombs.

“New Zealanders have strong values, and it’s the Government’s responsibility to uphold those shared values in law and policy,” said Mr Shaw.

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