21 August 2005

United Future's election Policy Involves Asset Sales

The United Future Party's 2005 Election Policy commitment to sell 40% of the government's shareholdings in strategic national assets like NZ Post, Genesis, Meridian Energy and Mighty River Power, is unacceptable to the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders, says Progressive leader Jim Anderton.

"The United Future Party had its campaign launch in Auckland yesterday which was an opportunity for the party's leadership to outline the policies it would like to see adopted by the next coalition government of New Zealand.

"I would like to offer this free advice to United Future: Have some respect for New Zealanders' overwhelming rejection of the strategic asset sales programme that was thrust down our collective throats by the failed National and Labour governments of the 1980s and 1990s.

"United Future's proposal to hock-off 40% of NZ Post Ltd., the owner of Kiwibank, and all of our New Zealand-owned energy companies, is a policy that will be rejected because it is anti-New Zealand, anti-economic development and based on a rigid set of ideological theories best buried along with the ACT Party on September 17," Jim Anderton said.

National-United, National-NZ First and National-Mauri Pacific governments of the 1990s, and the 1980s Rogernomics Labour government, sold off key strategic assets at bargain basement prices to the detriment of our national interest.

There have been no strategic asset sales since Jim Anderton and Matt Robson joined the coalition government first elected in late 1999.

ENDS

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