Stop asset sales

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, April 12th, 2011 - 24 comments
Categories: democratic participation, election 2011, labour, privatisation - Tags:

Last week, Phil Goff launched Labour’s campaign to stop asset sales.

These are going up all over the show. If you want one, go here.

24 comments on “Stop asset sales ”

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  1. Bored 1
    12 April 2011 at 11:27 am

    Great move Labour, I will find a place for one or two. Excellent, well done.

  2. Tiger Mountain 2
    12 April 2011 at 12:22 pm

    Ditto. Reminds me of the 80s nuke free NZ campaign. It was won literally house by house (posters in windows), suburb by suburb, and council by council going nuclear free, symbolism can be powerful.  

    • Peter 2.1
      13 April 2011 at 6:49 am

      The Left don’t have anywhere near the money or media control of the Right but this will not stop clever, low cost marketing, from getting the required messages through. Anymore clever ideas/slogans out there for other vote catching issues?

  3. ChrisH 3
    12 April 2011 at 12:45 pm

    Ooh yeah this could work!

  4. Tangled up in blue 4
    12 April 2011 at 12:45 pm

    Does “donate” mean “buy”? ie will I actually get send a sign if I donate?

    • wtl 4.1
      12 April 2011 at 1:04 pm

      From the looks of the page, donate means fund their campaign so I’m not sure if they send you a sign by default. But I’m sure they’ll send you one if you donate and ask them to.

    • felix 4.2
      12 April 2011 at 1:14 pm

      Yeah I wondered this too, it’s not at all clear.
       
      I guess if they don’t send you a sign you could make your own.

    • mickysavage 4.3
      12 April 2011 at 1:48 pm

      “Donate” means essentially that you are sponsoring a sign. If you want one you will have to email and ask.

  5. PeteG 5
    12 April 2011 at 1:15 pm

    There’s a lot of difference between anti-nuclear (it’s easy to be sympathetic to “stuff going anywhere near that stuff”) and anti asset sales (“um, things get sold all the time”).
     
    Labout will need to be careful they don’t get too closely associated with being a Stop party rather than a Go party.

  6. Chris 6
    12 April 2011 at 6:29 pm

    I am pro asset sales as we do keep 51 % ownership. It should be viewed as asset investment really.

    • Policy Parrot 6.1
      12 April 2011 at 8:33 pm

      Selling down an asset is divestment you mook. How can divestment be viewed as investment, especially considering the revenues forgone by divestment will not be made up with cash savings and interest.

    • Frank Macskasy 6.2
      12 April 2011 at 10:08 pm

      “It should be viewed as asset investment really.”
       
      In what possible Parallel Universe is selling a capital asset, as opposed to a product or service, an “investment”?
       
      I suspect you are mixing up terms, or have no clue what you’re referring to. Policy Parrot is correct; selling an asset is a divestment, because you are getting rid of it – usually for money, or value in shares. (Jeez, do we lefties have to explain basic capitalism to capitalists?!?!)
       
      However, that aside, we had asset divestment (asset sales) in the late 1990s, when Max Bradford oversaw the break-up of our energy sector; forced local bodies to break up their electricity trading arms into line companies and retail companies; and saw one of the new electricity companies (Contact Energy) privatised.
       
      Bradford justified these so-called “reforms” by claiming that electricity prices would drop, due to competition.
       
      Now, hands up everyone whose power prices have dropped since 1999?
       
      Someone?
       
      Anyone?
       
      Typical. Not a bean.
       
      The reality is that power prices will rise, as surely as the Sun will rise tomorrow. Count on it. In fact, if National gets re-elected (not impossible with Labour’s current  strategy of looking like absolute wallies), and the power companies are partially privatised; then I would start looking around for domestic wind-turbines to buy.
       
      Buying a wind-turbine to generate electricity. Now that is an investment.

  7. Policy Parrot 7
    12 April 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Labour needs to go further than just ban asset sales. It needs to dispense with the pretense adopted under NPM of government departments (read SOEs) essentially being independent corporations owned by the Crown.
    This is neither an accurate description of the sector, let alone a successful strategy for public management. I personally completely detest the idea of asset sales, but at least National has a clear plan (although not completely grasped by the greater public) for moving out of this conundrum.
    I suggest Labour also move the sector out of the stalemate, into more of a public service role. NPM has brought some benefits to the state sector, chiefly being the Public Service Act 1989, but the middling and endpoints to the NPM strategy are highly conflicted, and politically dogmatic, respectively.
    Keep the transparency, keep the focus on cost management. Throw out the bloated executive/management salaries, and give the sector a clear public service mandate, not the blurred twin goals of the past 25 years which have led to significant waste.

  9. Frank Macskasy 9
    12 April 2011 at 10:21 pm

    You mean… return to the concept of an Electricity Department? With local bodies acting as retailers for their catchment area?

    Hmmmm, what a novel idea.

    But it would never work – power prices might drop. *frowns*

  10. Peter 10
    13 April 2011 at 6:44 am

    Paid for a couple. A simple message well put.