Today’s announcement that the Christchurch City Council will sell 100% of its infrastructure company, City Care, is foolish in the extreme.
For a city that is undergoing a $46 billion rebuild, this is exactly the wrong time to be flogging off its core infrastructure company.
People from all shades of opinion agree that the guts of local government responsibility are things like roads, footpaths, water and sewerage – the very things that City Care exists to build, repair and service.
Keep Our Assets Canterbury (KOA) does not defend City Care’s empire building up and down the country.
Nor do we defend obscenities like its CEO’s salary.
But we do say that it is absolutely essential that the people of Christchurch own and control what used to be the City Council’s Works Department.
To those who say “what’s wrong with passing public assets and/or services to private owners?” I give a one word answer – Serco (to give just the most current example of what is wrong with privatisation).
The people of Christchurch can expect to see City Care’s new owner go down the old familiar privatisation path of staff cuts, price hikes and quality decline.
KOA and its constituent groups and parties will fight this and any subsequent selloffs (tipsters pick Red Bus to be next).
This will be a major issue at the 2016 local body election, particularly as no City Councillor has a mandate to sell our assets.
The subject was never mentioned at the 2013 election.
We repeat our central point that the motivation driving this, at both central Government and City Council level, is ideological, not financial.
The quake rebuild costs provide a convenient excuse for what is a classic example of disaster capitalism and asset grabbing.
Looks to me like the mayor, ex Labour, has been a pretty easy pushover for asset sales brigade. Now let’s see where Megan Woods, the newly promoted shadow cabinet minister, goes on this. Where is Labour, itself, on this. What will Phil Goff do in Auckland. This could be something of a rallying cry for Labour – if there is any drive and passion in its new line-up.
Fletchers have a big hand in Ch Ch and people like Rothschilds have an eye on investments after the big earthquake which is said to be a man made event to enable them to take over and make huge profits, and
council is for some reason !!!! going to sell assets.
Just before the EQ there were Fema and USA polititions in Ch Ch they left days before EQ.Wake up New Zealand article gives details.
Are people aware that Ryman healthcare which are building retirement villages on a massive scale is actually Goldman Sachs.
NZ land and businesses are being bought up by American corporations
under the radar by using other other titles .
Monsanto has bought up most seed companies in NZ,has land in Pukekoe.
Key is doing a great job of selling us out,now Auckland is up for sale,Asian interests have bought out a huge block of housing and land .
Key government arranged a dairy contract to China, with the agreement that Chinese nationals could come to NZ and have the same rights as NZs to purchase houses and farms etc, so Chinese bought dairy farms and export their own dairy products back to China, so much for a dairy deal!!
We could call Key stupid and short sighted for this ,but it appears all these asset sales and privatisations were planned , that’s why Key was planted in NZ for this purpose.
An American Paula Rebstock was imported to do the job overseen by Goldman Sachs,and still NZ does nothing.
The TPPA is just a last event to hand us over lock stock and barrel ,and all we do is protest which Key ignors,the Herald dosnt even show the protests.
Overseas interests create wars to gain control of countries, NZ just left it to one man and his hench men and woman to hand us over., there was a saying years ago that NZ could be taken with just a phone call, the phone call is Key.
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