2 August 2005

NZ First's Part In Selling Assets In The Late 90s

"The NZ First Party's 2005 rhetoric against strategic national asset sales is a rehash of the party's non-negotiable policy position that it took into the 1996 General Election only to disown after the election," Progressive leader Jim Anderton said today.

"The only time New Zealand has had a National-led government under MMP is when people elected into Parliament on the NZ First Party ticket helped to install a National-led government.

"NZ First went into the 1996 election on a platform that promised no state asset sales as 'a non-negotiable principle,' but when it got into government it did the opposite of what everyone anticipated from its rhetoric," Jim Anderton said.

"What the record shows is that the NZ First Party's 'non-negotiable principles' are worthless," Jim Anderton said.

Pre-1996 election rhetoric (as recorded by the Dominion newspaper 18-9-96)

"We will not contemplate selling state assets to private and foreign hands as National and Labour have done over the past ten years" ? NZ First Leader in an article headed 'Peters spells out non-negotiable principles'

Treasurer and Deputy PM Peters' (as recorded in Hansard for May 14 1998 Budget Speech on behalf of the National-NZ First government)

"We have low-returning funds locked up in businesses like airports and coal mines which demand future investment from the taxpayer. Accordingly, we are negotiating with other local government shareholders to divest the Crown's ownership interest in Auckland International Airport, by way of a public float. The government has also started the process of divesting its coal mining State Owned Enterprise, Solid Energy.

ENDS

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