Change the government

Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has indicated that the National Party is looking into what government-owned assets it might sell off. This has long been National Party policy, so it’s nothing new. But coming right after the most anti-ordinary New Zealander budget in my memory, it’s a bitter far-right pill to swallow.

English, who as party leader led his party to its biggest election loss in many, many years, declared: ''It seems to me, and I have checked this, that there is a strong demand among the mums and dads for a Kiwi investment model and if we put product into the market people would buy it. Would I be right about that?''

You’d be completely wrong, Bill, and you damn well know it.

If Bill English gets his way, National will sell everything that’s not nailed down—and many things that are—to the highest foreign bidder. It’s simply dishonest—a lie in plain terms—to suggest otherwise.

Kiwibank would be scooped up by the Aussies who already own ALL of our largest banks. KiwiRail would be bought by some foreign owner with no interest in or concern for ordinary New Zealanders (look at what a disaster rail became under American ownership and you’ll see what a sold-off KiwiRail would become if Bill English and National get their way).

The National Party has nothing but contempt for ordinary New Zealanders. That’s why their budget and tax cuts look out only for the most well-off and leaves everyone else to fend for themselves. That’s why they want to sell-off state owned assets.

We can stop this. We can make sure that the New Zealand government focuses on ordinary, hard working New Zealanders and not the corporate elites. We can ensure that Government works for all New Zealanders and not just the richest people or biggest corporations. To do that, we have but one task: Change the government.