Would the Real Left Wing Parties Please Stand Up?

The Alliance Party is amused and, quite frankly, confused, to hear John Key repeatedly refer to a possible Labour/Greens coalition as a “far left” government in the media these days.

Key bases his assessment on their new power policy which would see a government provider buying all the power from generators. However Key should ponder the fact that the state owned all aspects of power generation and the distribution of electricity right up until 1999. And no one ever described the Holyoake and Muldoon led National governments of this era as “far left” because electricity was state owned.

Not that being a “left wing” party is a bad thing. For the majority of New Zealanders, having a genuine “left wing” coalition government would be very good indeed. Continue reading

A Solid Look at SOEs

Solid Energy is going down the gurgler, NZ Post is trying to get out of delivering mail, KiwiRail is closing railway lines and ordering all its new stock from offshore, and Mighty River Power is throwing money at exploration work in Chile – $250 million to date and growing – desperate to find a viable geothermal field to exploit Chileans facing power price hikes because of drought conditions.

What do all these entities have in common?  They’re all State Owned Enterprises working against the best interests of New Zealand. Continue reading

Kiwis left in the cold by asset sales

Kevin Campbell, Alliance Party co-leader

More New Zealanders will go cold if the National Government is allowed to sell shares in our power companies.

Providing New Zealanders with affordable and reliable electricity would be secondary to providing shareholders with the maximum return on their investment.  The asset sales plans have understandably met with massive opposition from New Zealanders.

Now these plans have been delayed, and are looking even more shaky and shonky.

This is the time to make sure that asset sales, including our power companies, are stopped for good. Continue reading

Can the Government Guarantee Domestic Power Prices if the Power Companies Are Sold?

The government says domestic power prices will not rise steeply if shares are sold in the three publicly owned power companies, but can they guarantee it? And what if they are wrong? This has the Alliance Party worried, according to co leader Kay Murray.

Continue reading

Advice to Mum and Dad Investors

I was impressed and excited to read a local finance broker’s advice to potential “mum and dad” investors in privatized public assets in the Otago Daily Times (Friday 6 July 2012).
Mr Chris Timms of Craigs Investment Partners says any complaints about ordinary Kiwis not being able to get in on the sale of the 21st century are misplaced.
It comes down to lifestyle choices and priorities.
Cut out the cigarettes and takeaways, and you can be in to win.
As Mr Timms says, you can save money, be healthier and buy some shares.
I agree.
It is a well known fact that the working classes of New Zealand expend their lives in a haze of cigarette smoke, while simultaneously pouring jugs of beer down their throats and stuffing their ample jaws with burgers and chips.
It’s amazing they actually find time to work full time and raise families.
In some cases, they linger on well into their seventies on superannuation (another drain on the economy.)
We need to buy back the assets we already own because we needed to give tax cuts to high income people, like finance industry high flyers for example. Continue reading

Alliance Party Warns Investors that Asset Sales Can Be Reversed

For the Alliance Party the Mixed Ownership Bill is a case of ground-hog day. The Alliance was formed to fight the privatization agenda of the 1980′s and 1990′s. “We find it profoundly depressing that this government is determined to repeat the failures of the past,” said Co Leader Kay Murray. Continue reading

Alliance joins condemnation of NZ Ambassador to US Moore’s party for multinational corporates

The Alliance Party wants to know why the government allowed our US Ambassador, Mike Moore, to host a Trans Pacific Partnership Governors and Ambassadors World Trade Reception on Friday night sponsored and attended by multinational corporate players. Continue reading