NZPA
Monday 20th June 2011 |
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Labour has drafted a bill to stop state asset sales, unless there was strong support.
Labour leader Phil Goff announced details of Clayton Cosgrove member's bill today.
"It says there must be a specific mandate before any Government can sell our assets. That mandate could be by a 75 percent vote of Parliament or it could be by way of a referendum. Frankly the Government's planning to sell assets that are our assets, they belong to New Zealanders," he told reporters.
"They don't have the approval from New Zealanders to sell them, that's theft. (The) assets were built up by New Zealanders, their brains and their skill and their toil, their taxation."
The State-Owned Enterprises and Crown Entities (Protecting New Zealand's Strategic Assets) Amendment Bill would cover any move to partly or wholly privatise assets such as power companies, New Zealand Post, Landcorp and Solid Energy plus state broadcasters and Crown research institutes.
Goff said surveys showed there was 2:1 opposition to sales.
The Government is campaigning this election on partial asset sales which it calls a "mixed ownership model". It has named Mighty River, Meridian, Genesis and Solid Energy as candidates for sale and is looking at reducing its 75 percent holding in Air New Zealand. The sales would happen over three to five years, starting next year, depending on market conditions.
Goff disagreed that should National again win power this election that that could be considered a mandate.
"It's not a specific mandate. Obviously people against asset sales can vote against this Government and a large number of people will but we are saying for any Government at any time to sell off assets that belong to New Zealanders...once they are sold they are lost forever, that should have a specific mandate on the people."
Labour had sold assets in the 1980s but that was a "mistake".
"That's why in the nine years of the last Labour Government we sold no assets. We understood that New Zealanders wanted to retain their key assets and we honoured our key undertaking to them not to sell."
Previously calls for Maori seats to be entrenched (where support of 75 percent of MPs is required before change could be made) were rejected.
Other key issues such as superannuation have not been entrenched either.
"We think it is that important. New Zealanders do not want their assets sold," Goff said.
However, Goff admitted the bill did not have that much chance of passing given the Government would vote against it but its key goal was to raise discussion and debate.
In fact even if the bill is drawn from a ballot with other members' bills it may not get a first reading before Parliament rises for the November general elections.
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