Tag: State Owned Enterprises

Christchurch Asset Sales Will Be Major Issue

Posted by | Nov 9, 2015 | , |

Press Release – Keep Our Assets Canterbury Christchurch Asset Sales Will Be Major Issue In 2016 Local Body Election: Public Meeting ToldChristchurch Asset Sales Will Be Major Issue In 2016 Local Body Election: Public Meeting Told Keep Our Assets Canterbury hosted a public meeting on Sunday night in the Cardboard Cathedral. The message from the 13 speakers (who were given five minutes each) was quite unambiguous – if the Christchurch City Council proceeds with its plan to sell $750 million worth of public assets over the next three years, it will have a fight on its hands. Two of The People’s Choice’s six Councillors spoke and made plain that this will be a major issue at the 2016 local body election. This was reinforced by the three MPS who spoke – one each from Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First. The representatives of two unions who spoke made the stark point that privatisation costs workers’ lives. Other speakers made these points: none of the eight Councillors who voted for asset sales actually campaigned on that platform at the 2013 local body election, so they have no mandate to do so; those assets were built up by previous generations for the common good of present and future generations of Christchurch people, not to be flogged off because of an ideologically-induced debt hysteria, and certainly not to pay for the...

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Groser’s ‘blanket approach’ in turning down OIA not lawful

Posted by | Oct 13, 2015 | , |

Article – BusinessDesk Groser’s ‘blanket approach’ in turning down Kelsey’s OIA requests on TPPA not lawful, court rules Groser’s ‘blanket approach’ in turning down Kelsey’s OIA requests on TPPA not lawful, court rules By Jonathan Underhill Oct. 13 (BusinessDesk) – Trade Minister Tim Groser had no lawful basis to withhold information about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement requested under the Official Information Act made by Jane Kelsey, a high-profile opponent of the trade deal. Justice David Collins quashed Groser’s decision on six of the seven categories of documents requested by Kelsey and directed the minister to reconsider her request, according to his judgment in the High Court at Wellington. Kelsey was joined by Consumer NZ, Ngati Kahungunu, Oxfam NZ, Greenpeace, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the NZ Nurses Association and the NZ Tertiary Education Union in the claim for a declaratory judgment on the reach of the OIA. “When the minister refused Professor Kelsey’s request, neither he nor his officials assessed each piece of information requested against the criteria in the act for withholding official information,” Collins said in his judgment. “Instead, the minister adopted a ‘blanket approach’ to the request based upon his knowledge of the categories of documents requested by Professor Kelsey. I have concluded this approach did not comply with the act.” The court heard that about 30,000 documents were relevant to the OIA request. “When...

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Government accused of sabotaging a second SOE

Posted by | Aug 16, 2015 | , |

Press Release – Postal Workers Union of Aotearoa The Government is being accused of sabotaging another state owned enterprise following the collapse of Solid Energy.Government accused of sabotaging a second state owned enterprise after Solid Energy collapse The Government is being accused of sabotaging another state owned enterprise following the collapse of Solid Energy. The Postal Workers Union says posties employed by New Zealand Post are required by the Government to undermine the letter business of the state owned enterprise by carrying the mail of private sector competitors. While the Postal Workers Union is well aware of the changing patterns of communications the management of NZ Post appears to be less about the economics of mail decline and more about the ideology of privatisation. In 1997 the Business Round Table had called for the deregulation and privatisation of NZ Post. Before the 1999 general election finance minister Bill English had said NZ Post would be on the block for privatisation. The Postal Services Act 1998 set NZ Post up for a process of privatisation by stealth by being required to subsidise private sector mail companies as the private companies build up their letter business on the back of a state owned enterprise. Of particular concern to the Union is that NZ Post’s CEO has not responded to the Union’s urging of him to reassure apprehensive employees that NZ Post...

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TPPA progress harder from now on – Jan Rivers

Posted by | Aug 3, 2015 | , , , , |

Opinion – Jan Rivers With the failure of the Maui TPPA round to make a deal the next round of TPPA negotiations is going to be much more difficult for the government domestically as well as internationally . Despite the secrecy of the last seven years of negotiations media coverage in the … TPPA progress harder from now on By Jan Rivers of Public Good Aotearoa New Zealand With the failure of the Maui TPPA round to make a deal the next round of TPPA negotiations is going to be much more difficult for the government domestically as well as internationally. Despite the secrecy of the last seven years of negotiations media coverage in the last few weeks has laid bare to the NZ public some of the weaknesses of the government’s position. Four downsides have become apparent. 1. The government has made it clear that it has left itself with few tools to prevent unlimited overseas sales of NZ homes through the TPPA and S. Korea agreements and now applying to China. (John Key’s claim that it was Labour’s fault is entirely specious – akin to saying “you gave me a knife and it’s your fault I cut off my own leg”.) 2. The promises, over many years, that Pharmac would be untouched by the TPPA have proven to be false. The current proposals on protections for biologic...

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Stalled TPP chance for wider discussion

Posted by | Aug 1, 2015 | , , , |

Press Release – New Zealand Labour Party Failure to get the TPP agreement across the line gives New Zealanders an opportunity to put more pressure on the Government not to sign away our sovereignty, Opposition leader Andrew Little says.ANDREW LITTLE Opposition Leader 1 August 2015 MEDIA STATEMENT Stalled TPP chance for wider discussion Failure to get the TPP agreement across the line gives New Zealanders an opportunity to put more pressure on the Government not to sign away our sovereignty, Opposition leader Andrew Little says. “New Zealand land, dairy and medicines are up for grabs in these negotiations. There has to be some meaningful gains for us in this. “If we can’t restrict land or house sales to non-residential foreign buyers, or we end up paying more for life-saving drugs then we are selling ourselves down the river. “There has to be some bottom lines. New Zealand must be able to do what is in its own best interests. “There’s no doubt there’s been some tough talking from all sides, but it’s now up to the Government to stand its ground and ensure it gets the best deal for Kiwis. “It’s also time it came clean on what it has signed up to and allowed New Zealanders to become part of the next round of discussions,” says Andrew Little. ENDS Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz Original...

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