Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is:
1. A strong and stable new government working well by Christmas. National and New Zealand First took an interminable
nine weeks after the last election to come to a working relationship which didn't work. The Alliance wants a new
government to get working straight away.
2. An anti-defection Bill introduced. A new government can introduce legislation to stop the party-hopping once and for
all. Any MP leaving their party will have to resign from parliament.
3. Minimum wage increased. By law the minimum wage has to be determined by December. We want to increase it to $7.50 per
hour for everyone, including under 20s who currently can be paid as little as $4.20 an hour for doing the same work as
over 20s.
4. Interest on student loans removed. I want students who are considering study next year to be able to enrol in
confidence that they will not be burdened by ever increasing debt.
5. To send a minister in the new government to Queenstown, Wanaka and Alexandra. There needs to be a minister on the
ground to co-ordinate all possible support in partnership with local authorities and the community.
6. A Kiwi Bank. We can get started before Christmas, with a phone call to New Zealand Post from the responsible
minister. This will mean more jobs, better services in rural communities, lower interest rates and lower bank charges.
7. A moratorium on the commercial release of genetically engineered foods and on commercial field trials. New Zealanders
need reassurance the potential for the release into the wild of genetically engineered organisms must be removed.
8. The Minister of Commerce to commence proceedings against Telecom for its breach of the Kiwi Share. Telecom breached
the Kiwi Share agreement by introducing the Telecom 0867 local calling charge for the internet.
9. e-mails sent to all New Zealanders around the world to ask them to come home. We need you here to help start
re-building our country.
10. A summit of artists, sports people, writers, film-makers and TV broadcasters.I want to pull these people together to
set out a vision for showcasing our culture to ourselves and to the world.
11. To loose another 1.5kg This will get me down to my 1st XV fighting weight.
Visit http://www.alliance.org.nz for more information about the Alliance