Could John Key's plans to sell significant chunks of our assets bring a power of trouble down upon his head?
I think the chances of that are very high indeed. He could well face an upwelling of opposition from the public over what is an unconvincing proposal that has failed so far to inspire confidence. A well informed and motivated public could drive Key and his sell-up National Party back from the prize they are sniffing around, by taking to the streets and the social media, and demanding the assets stay just where they are - in our hands. The Labour Party, in it's effort to regain strength could take the issue and raise it like a flag, putting their considerable resources behind making sure the Government doesn't succeed with its plans. The other political parties - The Greens, NZ1st and Mana, oppose the sales vigorously and could play an important part in broadcasting opposition inside and outside of the House. The Maori Party stands to destroy itself over the sale of assets. Presently they are positioning themselves to get a slice of that pie, while at the same time saying they oppose it. That won't go well for them, as people reflect on the motivations behind their claims.
It looks as if the sale of assets will be the battle ground upon which Key's popularity and the Government's future will stand or fall. I expect they will counter the threat by rolling out as many 'upsetting' changes to the status quo as they possibly can, pushing their welfare reforms hard and continuing their dirty industries/mining, drilling developments as overwhelingly as they possibly can, to keep their opponents scrambled.
For now, it's coalition time and that in itself is something of a farce. Act has died and left a scabby John Banks in its place. The cheap theatre that was his selection and endorsement has left a bad taste in the public's mouth and that won't fade as quickly as some might hope. Peter Dunne.
For myself, I'm looking forward to the performances of the Green Party in their strengthened form and to that of Winston Peters, returned to Parliament and with his beady eye fixed on the man who shafted him three years ago. I hope for great theatre and the sale of assets will provide fodder for that already-loaded cannon.
11 comments:
I think you'll Key is a shrewd enough operator that large chunks of the assets will be sold of to Maori interests. Or something similar.
Anyone then campaigning against the sale can be made political mincemeat of. Will they be 'racist' for campaigning against sale of assets to Maori interests or anti New Zealand workers if the assets are to be sold into Kiwisaver?
At the end of the day it will all play out to the various parties supporters, but not really change the underlying issues.
Paranormal
You're a bit early aren't you Robert? the election isn't for another 3 years yet!!
I'm sick of all this politics stuff, both national and local.
I have recently been taken advantage of by local politicians and politically active locals, it makes me sick, and I see it for what it is.
I think more should be made of what any money raised from the partial asset sales will be used for. Key kept claiming that it would all be going to popular causes, schools, hospitals etc, but Solid Energy's chairman said that they need the money raised to fund their plans for the lignite. I plan to listen to the insight program on asset sales again & make a transcript, but I don't recall hearing Key telling people that is what any funds raised would go to. Maybe thatwould mean that if Solid Energy isn’t partly sold, then the lignite plans couldn't proceed?
It doesn't matter what we're told the asset sale funds are used for. Ultimately it's all part of the same general account.
You can say that anything you don't approve of that the government spends money on is funded by asset sales. In reality the asset sales are to keep government debt down.
Paranormal
Para - I think Key and te Pati Maori are playing with fire if they try to shape the asset sales in favour of tangata whenua.
Shunda - taken advantage of?
How so?
Viv - you are correct - Solid Energy need foreign capital to do what is they plan - their processes require huge capital investment, much more than New Zealand can provide. In my view, that's whats primarily behind the proposed sales. Irrigation and lignite mining are not something the public would want to see the proceeds of asset sales going towards, so those aspects will be kept as quiet as possible, I'm guessing. But then there's Winston and he's noisy, as are the Greens :-)
RG - We'll just see what comes out of the negotiations over the next couple of weeks.
The 'key' thing to remember is they're not playing to the same constituency you are familiar with.
Paranormal
Shunda - taken advantage of?
How so?
Sometimes credit is taken for things certain people don't deserve credit for.
Sometimes those that simply do what it takes to get a job done are the biggest fools in town.
It's not that I want credit, it's that I don't want certain others taking it.
I feel I have been slimed, and also still in the sliming process on another issue.
How does one deal with that?
Paranormal
I know it's all one big pot of money (or debt) in the end, but my point is that the asset sales were promoted by National to fund projects that would be considered neccesary by the general public. The Solid Energy chairman said that they would sell the 49% to raise the money to mine the lignite, which would then make profit for the private owners- meanwhile I guess any profit on the 51% would go to ETS obligations, drought payouts to farmers, repairs to coastal infrastucture from erosion- and other consquences of climate change. The NZ public won't get any new hospitals out of this one.
Why would you expect National supporters to be happy about preferential treatment for Maori in this situation ? Isn't that the sort of thing they (and Act) normally object to?
Viv, I wasn't suggesting National or Act supporters would be happy with it, rather how the situation could be spun politically to defend a potential deal.
I was interested to hear on the lame stream news last night that Key has ruled out a special deal on asset sales for Maori.
And I think you've given Key some good lines for the 49% sale of Solid Energy. It is all just spin really isn't it. Maybe Key is thinking of his supporters rather than defence after all. However it doesn't stop Maori buying in with the rest at the IPO.
Paranormal
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