Hon Dr Michael Cullen
Member of Parliament
Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, Treasurer,
Minister of Finance, Minister of Revenue, Leader of the House

3 July 2002

“Is National planning to fight this entire election campaign on the retrogressive and discredited policies of the 1990s,” Finance Minister Michael Cullen asked today.

Dr Cullen was commenting on National’s announcement that it would disinter its old privatisation agenda and sell Landcorp.

“Clearly National has learned nothing from its loss in 1999, from its abysmal polling since then or – indeed – from the government’s popularity.

“We introduced a more balanced and fairer policy mix which has won wide public support but all National is offering is a return to the past – asset sales, bulk funding for schools, tax cuts for the well-off, the dismantling of the ACC scheme, the list goes on,” Dr Cullen said.

“The proposal to sell Landcorp is yet another triumph of ideology over sense. Landcorp returns a profit to the Crown, provides an important research facility and is a significant provider of on-farm training.”

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