Election 2026: Greens vow to restore pay equity regime, settle care workers’ claim

The Green Party has vowed to reverse the coalition Government’s pay equity reforms, which reduced the regime’s scope and banked nearly $13 billion in savings.

Announcing the policy today outside the Auckland Women’s Suffrage Mural, the Green Party accused the coalition of “butchering” the pay equity regime.

It pledged to restore the prior legal framework and dedicate funding for about 65,000 care and support workers to settle their claim within the first 100 days of government.

The Greens set aside about $1.1b a year for that settlement, or about $4.5b over the four-year forecast period, vowing to legislate a settlement into being if required.

“Care and support workers have been undervalued because their work has been treated as women’s work. This claim had been progressing for years, and that evidence of undervaluation was already clear,” Green co-leader Marama Davidson said.