Treasury has told a committee of MPs it is “a little over halfway through” a review of Government-owned commercial assets – a process widely seen as the beginning of a campaign to sell some assets off.
Speaking during Treasury’s scrutiny week appearance at Parliament, Mark Sowden, Treasury’s deputy secretary system and sector performance, confirmed Treasury was “a little over halfway through in terms of the programme“.
Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds told the Herald “it is clear National is planning to sell off our public assets”.
“It is clear that National is planning to sell off our public assets. Today the Treasury said they are assessing whether the Government should own certain public assets, a clear indication that they are laying the groundwork for asset sales. Labour will protect our public assets,” she said.
Treasury began the work last year. When the Government was sworn-in, it was advised that asset recycling might be a way of keeping up investment in infrastructure while reducing pressure on borrowing.
Much of the controversial legislation is being rammed through under urgency with barely any scrutiny…
Sir Geoffrey Palmer sounds the alarm over growing ministerial power
The coalition government has this year pushed on with a large programme of new legislation amid growing concerns about increased power being handed to ministers and a reduced level of public scrutiny.
A significant number of bills, including a large number of amendments have been passed under urgency, which enables the government to push through bills quickly. Under urgency, the government can skip steps such as public consultation, select committees and proper debate and it is possible to move a bill through all stages and pass it in a single day.
Former Labour Prime Minister and constitutional law expert, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, has told a select committee carrying out a regular review of standing orders urgency should be limited to genuine emergencies.
Separately he has talked of urgency being a quick and dirty way for the government to get its own way.
…this Government are abusing power to ram through hard right ideology that benefits their donors and according to the last TVNZ Poll of 2025, the majority of Kiwis are happy with that because they hate the Left with such a passion they are prepared to mutilate the country to own the woke.
That’s what our political landscape has become thanks to social media hate algorithms, All-Tribe-No-Village politics where the elites push their corporate maters interests while the rest of us are left to fight over culture war talking points.
This Government is going to flog off every asset we own if we don’t kick them out next year.
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How on earth has NZ got to this stage so quickly? WHAT can’t the politically blind not see? Are they that dim-witted, apathetic, not interested? FGS this is our country. The voters should have the right to choose the direction, not a bunch of con artists. So how and why have we been hi-jacked by these corrupt, dishonest, lying, cheating AH’s, totally governed by personal greed? Wake up NZ before your country is taken over by another corrupt bunch. Are you prepared for the utter turmoil? Way past time to really think about the future of NZ, or are you still in La-la land?
100%
We got to this stage mainly because the media is in on the con
Correct.
There is basically zero free and independent media in NZ.
The mainstream media are part of the con because of who owns that media.
All the above
Is it as simple as people resent the perception that poor people are getting something for nothing, so they let the wealthy continue to prosper, including by pillaging state assets in the mistaken belief that most of them will be rich one day as well?
Way past time to really think about the future of NZ, or are you still in La-la land?
Yes, clinging to the tattered beliefs of the 20th century, which had been papered over with shiny stick-on stuff so many times that it appeared a solid wall, and the economic and societal fashion is to group similar sold walls together, then decorate them with more wallpaper at $100 a roll? But we can do better, in the middleclass way of 21st century.
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For sure Martyn keep up the good work bro
Yip and the bald one will say, he will recycle them so we can make better investments to pay for health and education. And the oligarchs will be lining up to asset strip us. Another three years of them and we will not be able to afford to drive our cars on our big brother-built roads. Our beautiful country and its waterways will be heavily polluted and pristine areas we value and take pride in will be ripped up and destroyed by developers who will make their money and leave their mess and damage for us to clean up.
The title says it all. I have some ideas about dramatic presentation of how to get this message over to the populace in a reasoned way and don’t know how to or with whom to seriously discuss them. As I am not interested in any of the present political parties or many of the mushrooms emerging, many of whom seem to be poisonous, I feel a gap occurring in the narrative as the saying goes. Would Blerta work again?
As we can see once they are gone they are gone it’s a bit like pay equity Willis has stolen women’s money and spent it on whatever has taken her fancy to promote more stress for the working New Zealanders will we ever be able to buy it back that’s the billion dollar question.
Tenants in our own land.
Colonialism 2.0
I think it’s worse than that.
Why are there suddenly a couple of articles about GST and Crown revenue in the media?
Have the Coalition sent out “floaters” to gauge reaction to raising GST?