By 1News and Anna Whyte

The Green Party has removed a rule which requires one of its co-leaders to be male, which the party says affirms its commitment to provide leadership opportunities for non-binary and intersex people.

One co-leader still needs to be female, however now the other person can be of any gender.

They have also included a rule that one co-leader is Māori.

The move was part of constitutional considerations decided at a special general meeting.

It was also decided to adopt a te ao Māori organisational framework within the party, create a new party council to provide leadership and to formally recognise the role of Green Party members who are on local councils.

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