ACT Finance spokesman MP Rodney Hide today said the secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding the so-called ‘People’s Bank’ showed that the bank belonged to the state, not the people as promised.

“If Jim Anderton was serious about his ‘People’s Bank’ really being a bank of the people then he would release all material making the case for the Bank, explaining the costs, the benefits and the risks for the people to read”, MP Rodney Hide said.

“He has consistently refused to do so. The “People’s Bank” policy has been made Politiburo-style in secret behind closed doors. It’s well past time that Mr Anderton was upfront, open and transparent. He should have nothing to hide.

“The policy-making process for the People’s Bank fails on any test of process. There has been no analysis of the problem, no examination of the options, and no evaluation of the costs and benefits.

“The General Secretary of the financial services union, Finsec, Mr Don Farr, was bang on the money when he declared that the bank was being set up for political purpose, not for any commercial or social purpose.

“The ‘My’ in ‘MyBank’ doesn’t refer to the ‘People’ in the ‘People’s Bank’ but rather the ‘Jim’ in ‘Jim’s Bank’.

“There has been nothing to stop Jim Anderton setting up his own bank for years. The only problem is that he would have to explain to investors how their money was going to be used. It’s only as Deputy Prime Minister, having collared taxpayers’ dollars, that he can squander other people’s money without explanation or justification.

“Mr Jim Anderton should trust the people he professes to serve and make all documentation concerning his Bank publicly available,” MP Rodney Hide said.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>