Labour Leader Phil Goff said the plans were a recipe for disaster.
"Hocking off our assets to foreign buyers and slashing spending is vintage National. It doesn't have an economic plan so it's simply rehashing the failed policies of the past."
Now pardon our bafflement, but wasn't Phil Goff a member of Cabinet in the Lange/Palmer/Moore administration, when copious quantities of assets were hocked off? He may have renounced his membership of the Sir Roger Douglas Appreciation Society, but we reckon it's a bit rich for him to be trotting out the "vintage National" line when assets such as Telecom were flogged off by him and his colleagues under a Labour administration.
18 comments:
Yes. I'm at a loss to understand how anyone as incompetent as this fellow ever got to be a party leader. Why, the foolish use of the hackneyed 'failed policies of the past' phtaze immendiately is associated in people's minds with Labour.
To quote Goff himself, 'Everybody knows that.' Everybody except Goff, that is.
BTW, I can't find it but see if you can get a link to Cunliffe's speech a few weeks ago in which he advocated the partial sale of state assets.
These two idiots are priceless.
" our brain isn't processing things especially well at the moment"
You share a brain with someone Inventory2?
This explains a great deal!
Particularly this post attacking Goff, when you have so much to work with around Key's plans to sell huge amounts of 'stuff' New Zealanders have owned for a long, long time. He then has the temerity to offer some of it back to us, so that we can pay for our own stuff again. Of course, canny New Zealanders will simply sell their share to wealthy foreign buyers, you know they will - just look a the way Federated Farmers clamour to be able to sell their farms to foreigners - highest price always wins!
Come on Inventory2 - get your share of the brain into gear and let's have the real story :-)
IV2, here it is.
Ignore the troll.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10690080
@ Robert; lack of sleep is taking its toll on me, myself and I!
@ Adolf - Robert's ok; he's probably contemplating how far up the Greens' list he will be catapaulted with the news of Keith Locke's imminent retirement ...
Do you think Keith might have got the word that Robert was going to be ahead of him on the list - hence the retirement.
Shame on you RG.
I feel bad about it pdm but Keith knew when he was beaten by the younger man :-)
Have you be channelling those thoughts to Phil Goff Robert?
A very rough idea of your problem Iv2 sleep deprivation can be so debilitating.
Hope the Shingles are coming under control.
One has to be amazed at the socialists ability to disconnect so easily with their embarrassing past history in the matter of disposing of the governments emphatically documented incompetent involvement in business.
The newly Ginger leader of the incompetents who pretend they are experts in matters economic and fiscal. hence the appalling decision to buy back NZ rail for many times its market value. What would it have reached in open tender when the lucrative road transpot and forwarding business was excised.
Sadly no one in the media for reasons political and aptitude insufficiency will ever call the idiots to account but will repeat and embellish the bullet points supplied by their ignorant patrons.
I'm pretty certain that Goff was in the thick of the privatisation exercises of the late '80's.
And as Adolf notes Cunliffe was flying that kite recently.
Goff probably think the general public, well those of us who remember the '80's have no memories.
Well bad luck sunshine we do. I've also got Michael Bassets bio of David Lange as bedtime reading at the moment which assists in reliving those interesting times.
The thought that occurs to me is that the Cullen fund would see that these enterprises would be good fit for it's investment strategy.
Consequentty the crown investment would convert to a "peoples" investment through Kiwisaver.
@ Alex - from Goff's own profile on the Parliament website, these were his ministerial responsibilities between 1984 and 1990:
# Minister in Charge of Government Life Insurance Corporation 26 July 1984-6 April 1987
# Minister in Charge of the Public Trust Office 26 July 1984-6 April 1987
# Minister in Charge of the State Insurance Office 26 July 1984-6 April 1987
# Minister of Housing 26 July 1984-24 August 1987
# Minister for the Environment 19 February 1986-24 August 1987
# Minister of Employment 6 April 1987-14 August 1989
# Minister of Tourism 24 August 1987-12 September 1988
# Associate Minister of Education 24 August 1987-14 August 1989
# Minister of Youth Affairs 24 August 1987-14 August 1989
# Minister of Education 14 August 1989-2 November 1990
# Minister in Charge of the Education Review and Audit Agency 14 August 1989-2 November 1990
I think that it's safe to say that he wasn't just a casual bystander ...
As a footnote to the list of Goff's appointments between 1984 and 1987, whatever became of the Government Life Insurance Corporation and the State Insurance Office? Perhaps Adolf, being as he is from that industry, could oblige ...
Y'all saying people can't evolve? Bill English swallowing dead rats maybe? John Key not a money trader anymore but a statesmen maybe? Y'alls obsession with the opposition clouds your judgement of the government. But every visitor to this cut'n'paste website can see that. Except those echo chamber participants who also have cutn'n'paste websites. Intelligent people of the world despair! I come here for the comedy.
Of course people can evolve Anon; I just reckon it's a bit rich for Goff to be making statements like "vintage National" when the subject of asset sales was raised when a Labour government in which he was a minister sold assets. He can by all means evolve, but he can't re-write history.
I have to agree with anon - your obesession with demonising Goff has killed any analysis of a very bad idea from Key. Yes Goff was part of labour's neoloib crowd but... he's realised it was a bad idea (as have most of the world) and moved on.
Step up to what's happening today and play the ball not the man.
The Easter Bunny.
Apparently the Easter Bunny has been fooling around with those bloody Pixys again.
anon, I disagree
I read on Kiwiblog that Labour sold NZSteel, Petrocorp, DFC, Postbank, Rural bank, State Ins, THC, Maui Gas and telecom without a mandate from the people. The Nats want to do partial sales with the Govt being the major shareholder BUT will go to the polls upfront about it. Key seems to want a new National vintage to start this year and good luck to him and more importantly, to us all. Gets my vote again.
Government Life is now part of Tower Health and Life and State is now part of the IAG Group and continues to operate under the State Banner.
A bit like the BNZ which has been owned by NAB since the early/mid 90's
Post a Comment