Privacy Policy

The Green Party takes your privacy seriously. We are required to comply with the Privacy Act 2020. We take care to keep information you submit to this website secure. We do not share your personal information with other organisations, unless required to by law or as specified in this policy.

We may change this privacy policy at any time without notice.

Providing some information is optional

You do not have to supply information to us.

If you choose not to provide information, such as your name, email address, and phone number, you will be unable to:

  • Subscribe to our email newsletter, sign an online petition, or sign up as a volunteer.
  • Donate to the Party online.
  • Join the Party as a member.
  • Purchase items from the online store.

Why we collect information

We collect personal information to:

  • Keep in touch with you, including by email, post, phone, and text message.
  • Campaign, market, and tailor our communications to you.
  • Manage membership, volunteering, and donations.
  • Process store purchases.
  • Run the members’ website, discussion forums, and groups.
  • Monitor and improve our website and systems.
  • Comply with legal requirements including those related to Party membership, donations, and loans.

Joining as a member, subscribing to email newsletters, or signing up as a volunteer means you agree to receive communications from us.

What information we collect

We may collect personal information provided voluntarily by you, including your:

  • Name and contact information.
  • Green Party username(s) and password(s).
  • Billing or purchase information.
  • Policy interests.
  • Demographic information.
  • Interactions with us.

Although we use cookies on our web sites, no personally identifiable information is associated with them unless you log in.

If you interact with Green Party or Green Member of Parliament (MP) accounts on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, we may collect personal information such as your name and social media account name.

We may match information collected with information from other sources, including public sources such as the electoral roll.

We use third-party tools (such as Google Analytics, Meta Pixel), log files, web beacons and cookies to collect statistical and demographic information about website visitors, including: location, browser details, behavioural and interaction information (including referral URLs and search terms), and computer and network information. Third parties may use this information, if you have agreed to this on their sites, to provide measurement services, target and deliver ads.  

Google provides instructions to opt-out of having information collected by Google Analytics here.

You can find out how to opt-out of the collection and use of the information for ad targeting here.

To help our supporters draw their friends’ attention to the issues they care about, we provide social media sharing buttons and widgets on our website. These buttons or widgets may track your behaviour on our website and may combine this with other information about your online behaviour from other websites.

Requesting a copy or correcting the information we hold

You have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong. We will respond to requests within 20 working days or will notify you if it will take longer than 20 working days to complete your request. You have the right to ask the Privacy Commissioner to review a decision made by us about your request.

If you would like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it corrected, please email [email protected] or contact us on 04 801 5102, or write to the General Manager, PO Box 32, Wellington 6140.

You may unsubscribe from our mailing lists by following the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of our emails, or replying ‘STOP’ to a text message sent by us. You can update some preferences and information yourself by logging in to our website.

Do we share this information?

Personal information held by the Green Party will never be passed on to third parties, unless required by law or as specified in this privacy policy.

Where this information is required for them to carry out their duties, we share some information with staff, contractors, volunteers, candidates, Members of Parliament (and their staff), and officeholders.

We share some information with suppliers of services to the Party, which may be stored and processed on servers located outside of New Zealand. Online credit card payments are encrypted, processed using an external credit card payment processor (for example, Flo2cash), and credit card numbers are not stored by us.

If you sign a petition, open letter, make a submission or something similar we may share your name with the relevant decision maker (for example, Parliament).

We may share anonymised versions of your data with partners like social media providers to help achieve our goals by delivering personalised social media content to current and potential supporters.

We may disclose information when we believe it is appropriate to comply with the law, facilitate legal proceedings, prevent harm to people or property in an emergency, or protect our rights.

Disclosure of donations

The secretary of each registered political party must file an annual return of party donations and loans with the Electoral Commission.

Provided you are a New Zealand citizen or otherwise legally registered as an NZ elector, or an organisation based or company registered in New Zealand, you can donate as much as you like to a political party.

Certain records, including large donors’ names and addresses, are published by the Electoral Commission on their website:

  • If you donate more than $5000 to the Party, or $1,500 to a candidate in a calendar year we are required by law to disclose your name and address and the amount you have donated in our annual return to the Electoral Commission.
  • If you donate more than $20,000 during a general election year (1 Jan to the date of the General Election) we are also required by law to make an immediate disclosure within 10 working days to the Electoral Commission.

There are restrictions on anonymous donations and donations by people who are not New Zealand citizens or registered voters, companies not registered in New Zealand, and organisations not based in New Zealand:

  • We are unable to retain any amount over $50 a year donated by an overseas person.

Our legal obligations

The Party is a registered incorporated society, and we are required under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 to keep a register of members’ names, addresses, and joining date. This register must be provided to the Registrar upon request.

We are required to keep and disclose certain financial information for accounting, tax, and audit purposes, including under the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985, Income Tax Act 2007, and Tax Administration Act 1994.

As a registered political party, we are required under the Electoral Act 1993 to collect and disclose certain records, including those related to donations, expenses, loans, and membership.

Security and notification of breaches

We will do our best to prevent breaches of security and privacy and will act to assess, contain, and prevent further breaches. If appropriate, we will also notify you if we believe your privacy has been breached. 

If you become aware of a breach please inform [email protected] immediately.

(Last revised Sep 2023)