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ppi.035-Alliance-Labour: hope for New Zealand?
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Date: Wed, 20 May 1998
To: •••@••.•••
From: •••@••.•••
Subject: Background material on NZ neoliberal experiments
Rio de Janeiro, May 19/20, 1998.
Dear moderator:
I know in general lines how "good" is NZ as a neoliberal pupil, but I think
it would be very interesting to send to the list the material you referred
to, including parallel imports. Furthermore, I need it.
The privatization of the electricity supply in New Zealand has brought about
the same disaster that happened in Rio de Janeiro and part of the São Paulo
States, here in Brazil: frequent electricity shortages due to the mass
dismissal of skilful technicians and to the purposeful weakness of the
regulatory authority.
It is ironic that Rio Light, the main electricity supplier in the RJ State
now belongs to a consortium headed by a French state-owned company!
Best regards,
César Roberto
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Date: Thu, 28 May 98
From: janice <•••@••.•••
To: •••@••.•••
Subject: What happens when Washington runs your economy; NZ today.
Sender: •••@••.•••
FARMERS AND THE ECONOMY
Speech to Northland Federated Farmers
Jim Anderton MP
Leader of the Alliance
Embargo: 6.00PM 27 May 1998
The New Zealand Herald earlier this month reported that
the chief executive of Federated Farmers referred to you
in these words,
"It's like having a delinquent child in the household."
When I read a comment like that I'm reminded of a cartoon
that was drawn when I left the Labour Party in 1989. It
featured the Labour caucus huddled together, shouting
'you're on your own now, Jim'. And it depicted me
wandering off into the 'wilderness' - where the rest of
the country was waiting, encircling the Labour caucus of
the day.
The message is this: It's not delinquent to do the right
thing. No matter how many people tell you you're mad, or
misguided or delinquent, the truth is always the truth.
Your branch is doing something very courageous. You're
taking on your own side.
You're having to question your own history and tradition.
Fortunately New Zealand has a history of courageous souls,
prepared to stand up for what they believe in and to
question the wisdom of others.
[Colonel Malone, Norman Kirk, Michael Joseph Savage, Judge
Peter Mahon].
I know how people feel when they find they no longer share
common ground with their former allies. It's something I
went through when I left the party of which I had been the
President. It's hard to question your own history and
tradition.
When you do it, you have to ask yourself a vital question:
"Is what these people are doing right? Is it what I
believe in?" If the answer is, 'No', then either what you
believe is wrong, or what they are doing is wrong.
You have come to the conclusion there is something
seriously wrong with the national direction of Federated
Farmers. And part of that conclusion is your rejection of
this Government's economic and social direction.
I've been travelling around New Zealand since the budget,
speaking to groups all over the country. The mood is
changing. In hamlets, towns and cities New Zealanders are
saying they've had enough. The activism of the Northland
Federated Farmers reflects that mood.
When a mood begins to grow, it builds a momentum all of
its own. It's a feeling that was underlined in the
Taranaki-King Country: National can no longer take for
granted the support of groups it has always taken for
granted.
The days when provincial New Zealand would automatically
support National are over. And it's about time, because
that party has abandoned you. National is now the party of
overseas-owned corporations and Queen St lawyers. And
people are realising that if you don't like it, the best
thing to do is to stop voting for them.
Look at what happened to National in Taranaki-King
Country. That has been the deepest blue part of the
country since the National Party was formed. They nearly
lost it. National got less than 30% of the vote in
Taranaki-King Country.
They were thrashed in the two biggest towns, Stratford and
Te Kuiti. The National candidate told the local newspaper
he was 'dog tucker' in Stratford and he wouldn't be going
back there. That's how badly he did there. And do you know
who won in Te Kuiti and Stratford? The Alliance.
Who would have believed that heartland towns like Te Kuiti
and Stratford are Alliance towns? They are. And there's a
simple explanation. We went to those towns and campaigned
very hard with a simple message about how New Zealand can
do better.
Tonight, I want to talk to you about that.
What is the reality of provincial New Zealand? Take rural
Northland.
Communities are struggling.
When was the last time a politician ever came to you and
said, 'If you vote for me I'll close your hospital?' None
of them ever tell you that. But they keep doing it.
Between them, National and Labour have closed 57 hospitals
in the last ten years.
Now they're removing twenty thousand people from surgical
waiting lists. These are people who are sick. They have
been assessed by a doctor as needing operations. And the
government has decided they're not going to get the
operations they need.
And what does the Government say about that? The health
funding authority said that the knowledge that you won't
get your operation should 'strengthen your resolve' to
look after your own health better.
[* Dr Malpass' press release].
So that was why Colin Morrison of Southland had to be left
to die. It wasn't because a cruel government refused to
give him his heart operation. It wasn't because he lived
in the wrong part of the country and they couldn't be
bothered having adequate health services in the region
where he lived. No. Colin Morrison apparently had to die
because his resolve wasn't strengthened enough to look
after his own health.
The same man from the health funding authority told us
that if people found out they weren't on the waiting list,
then that would be a good incentive to 'explore other
options.' What other options? Praying? Faith healing?
Why don't they just give people the operations?
The government tells us it has to save money. It can't
afford to keep hospitals open and pay for operations. Well
that isn't true.
Today you had the pleasure of hearing from Mr Luxton. Mr
Luxton is one of the brightest stars in the Government,
according to Mrs Shipley. She must think so, because she
just promoted him. She says she is 'delighted' with him.
So let's take her word for it, and see how bright Mr
Luxton is - one of these people whom Mrs Shipley says is
the brightest in her government.
Just before the budget Mr Luxton made a decision to
immediately remove all tariffs on imported motor vehicles,
with the loss of 5-10,000 New Zealand jobs. All cars
brought into New Zealand before 14 February would be
eligible for a refund of tariffs paid when they came into
the country.
His officials said to him, 'hang on a minute, Minister. If
you do that, people will export their cars and send them
to Fiji or Australia for a week's holiday, and bring them
back into the country. The return fare to Fiji is only
$950, and when they bring the car back, we'll have to hand
write them out a cheque for $22,000.'
You know what Mr Luxton did? He said, 'don't worry about
it. No one will do that. Hardly anyone. It'll only cost
the taxpayer a few million dollars.'
The car dealers couldn't believe their luck. They had no
idea people like this were running the country.
Next thing you know, you couldn't buy a new car in
Auckland or Wellington for love or money. They were all
lined up at Auckland wharf waiting to be loaded on a ship.
Three and a half thousand for the first two shipments. Ten
thousand all together.
When the likely cost to the country reached a hundred
million dollars the Minister finally realised how stupid
he'd been and he called it off.
John Luxton is evidently one of the brightest stars in Mrs
Shipley's government. And if he could be that cavalier
about up to a hundred million dollars, why can't we afford
to keep hospitals open? Why can't a dying man like Colin
Morrison get his operation?
When a hospital closes, the doctors and nurses and
cleaners and kitchen staff and gardeners all lose their
jobs. Some move away. Others can't find new jobs. If
families move away their kids aren't going to the local
school. Their wages aren't being spent at the local shops.
Those shops can't afford to take on new staff. If a shop
folds, then there's another family that stops spending its
income - one way or another - in the local economy.
If anyone wonders why there is a mood for change in New
Zealand, its because the National Party doesn't seem to
realise what's going on in the economy.
Let's match the promises they made about how they would
run our country against the reality of how it is.
They said their policies would make New Zealand grow
faster.
Last year the New Zealand economy grew by 1.9%. The
average growth in all developed countries was 2.9%.
This year, New Zealand will grow by 1.3%. The average of
developed countries will be 2.9%.
Next year our economy will grow by 2.3%. Again, the OECD
average will be higher - 2.6%.
Not since 1995 has New Zealand's growth rate matched or
exceeded the growth rates of other developed countries.
The National Party call themselves 'sound economic
managers'. Don't make me laugh.
They are incompetent. This Government is one of the worst
performing economic managers in the western world. Our
growth rates are unacceptable.
Our debt record is even worse. Wasn't all the economic
restructuring and asset sales supposed to fix the debt
problem forever?
If that was what it was about, they could not have failed
more spectacularly. New Zealand has never owed more.
New Zealand has not run a surplus in the current account
of the balance of payments since 1972. We have had an
unbroken 25 year run of spending more overseas than we
earn.
Last year the current account deficit was 4.8%. This year
I believe it will reach 8.3%. By next year the current
account deficit will blow-out to 9.3% of GDP.
The OECD average is nought: No current account deficit.
That's the average.
Australia has a 4% current account deficit. Mexico has a
3.4% deficit. Even in 1994 when its currency collapsed
because of the balance of payments, Mexico only had a
balance of payments deficit of 7.1%.
What has the continuous run of ruinous deficits done to
our total debt?
In 1984 when the Labour party ran advertisements featuring
Little Olivia, she had a debt of $5000. Now she owes
$25,479 overseas. And she's 17 and about to get a student
loan.
In 1995 our total overseas debt was 69.2 billion.
In 1996 it was up to 74 billion. This year it will reach
82 billion dollars. Next year it will exceed 90 billion
dollars.
Our overseas liabilities are increasing at the rate of 21
million dollars a day, or $7600 million a year.
And where is all that wealth going?
It's going straight into the pockets of the overseas
owners we have sold our country to.
The current account deficit this year is almost exactly
the same as the sum we sent overseas in profits and
dividends.
Imagine the impact on our health and education systems if
the seven and a half billion dollars we send overseas in
profits to overseas owners was being invested in New
Zealand instead. Imagine the difference it would make to
New Zealanders wage packets!
Do you think unemployment and marijuana would be the
biggest growth industries in Northland if just a few days
of the $21 million a day we are sending overseas was being
invested here, in Northland?
Some 220,000 New Zealanders are jobless.
There are 6500 unemployed people here in Northland. 10.8%
of the workforce. And this is in an area that is
exclusively represented by the National Party, and
virtually always has been.
Unless we stop selling out our country, this is going to
keep happening.
National's claim to be 'sound economic managers' is a sick
joke. They are failing on debt, they are failing on
growth, they are failing on unemployment, they are failing
on interest rates.
Interest rates: New Zealand has the highest real interest
rates in the western world. As long as we keep the present
monetary policy, we will continue to have cripplingly high
interest rates.
Those interest rates are forcing up our dollar and the
combination is demolishing the viability of businesses
like yours.
It is an outrageous betrayal of farmers across New Zealand
that the national leadership of Federated Farmers supports
the present monetary policy. Why doesn't federated farmers
just come straight out and say, 'farmers should be driven
off the land'? They are betraying farmers and selling out
the country.
It is hard to think of an economic policy that could be
failing farmers - and New Zealand - more spectacularly.
How dare they support it!
Dairy farmers: 21% of their income goes on interest
payments. For seven-to-eight years out of every ten, dairy
farmers will have to export into a market where our dollar
is over-valued, under current monetary policy settings.
This is madness.
Beef farmers getting hammered. 28% of the national beef
kill is in Northland and its TB free. So if it's
struggling there, imagine what it's like everywhere else.
Lockwood Smith has an answer to all this. Lockwood is
another one of the stars of this Government. He's another
one of Mrs Shipley's special favourites. Lockwood believes
the answer to all your problems is to smash the Dairy
Board into tiny pieces.
The Dairy Board is New Zealand's most successful business
and has been for years. It has the over-whelming support
of farmers around New Zealand. You get the impression that
Lockwood has taken a careful look at the Dairy Board and
said,
"Sure it works well in practice. But it doesn't work in
theory!'
Other countries hate our Dairy Board. They want us to get
rid of it because it is so successful. Massive overseas
multi-nationals like Switzerland's Nestle company would
like to buy it.
So what does Lockwood do? Does he say, 'we're keeping it
because it's good for New Zealand'? No.
Does he say, 'we'll only remove the Dairy Board's single
desk status if you give us trade concessions in return'?
No.
He says, 'Well if you want to wreck our winning advantage,
let me do it for you.'
Lockwood is one of the brightest stars of this Government.
He had a starring role in the Taranaki-King Country
by-election.
When he turned up at the National party launch, the
Alliance had a person waiting for him dressed up as a
chicken. The chicken was carrying a placard, which read,
'Why is Lockwood too chicken to debate Jim Anderton.'
So what does Lockwood do?
First, he tries to run away. Lockwood is scared of someone
dressed up as a chicken. It reminds you of when he was
Minister of Education, and tried to climb out a toilet
window to escape the students!
While he was inside the meeting, the chicken would squawk
whenever Lockwood started telling one of his fairy tales
about his exploits on the international trade circuit:
Things like, 'Smashing the Dairy Board will be great for
New Zealand.'
So Lockwood came outside and started to debate the
chicken. Imagine the spectacle. Here we have a Cabinet
Minister, one of the brightest stars in Mrs Shipley's
Government, one of the Prime Minister's personal
favourites: And he goes around in a by-election debating a
person dressed up as a chicken.
It's about Lockwood's level.
Lockwood Smith, like John Luxton, is incompetent.
But this pair are as good as it gets from a government
claiming it represents rural New Zealand.
That's why there's a mood out there in rural New Zealand.
It's why people are starting to say it's time we got rid
of them.
The ACT party thinks it will be the beneficiaries of this
mood.
ACT is the party which says the only problem with National
is that it's not going fast enough. It's not destroying
the dairy board fast enough. It's not selling enough of
New Zealand off fast enough to overseas ownership. There
are too many schools and hospitals owned by the public.
ACT's policy are so hare-brained that when the electorate
begins to take a close look, they will plummet in the
polls faster than the value of Brierley's shares with
Roger Douglas running the company.
Look at what they're talking about: ACT say they want to
cut government spending to 20% of GDP.
That means cutting $15 billion off state spending. How
would you do that?
Well it would be no good fooling around with the
small-biscuits. You have to slash the big ones.
The biggest spending items for the government are health,
education and NZ Superannuation. That is where ACT will
wield the axe.
* ACT would cut spending on public hospital by a third.
That would mean no more public hospitals in rural areas:
They would all be abolished. The hospital not only in
Dargaville but also in Whangarei, for example, would have
to go.
* ACT would cut spending on education by half. If you
think you have an unemployment problem for Northland youth
now, just think what will happen when they chop half the
Government expenditure on education.
* New Zealand Super would be cut by 35%.
* Spending on unemployment would almost double: Up by 87%.
That's even though the unemployment benefit would be
drastically cut by ACT. Even assuming the unemployment
benefit was cut by 75% (for example, by making it
available for only a few weeks), spending on unemployment
would increase because they would make so many more people
unemployed. To see how they would create mass
unemployment, think back to when Ruth Richardson cut $1
billion out of beneficiaries' incomes. What happened to
unemployment then? So what do you think would happen if a
Government tried to cut $15 billion out of spending?
ACT's policies are economic genocide.
Political commentators keep telling us that ACT is doing
well. Really? What political commentator can honestly say
to you that the public of New Zealand are going to vote
for a one third cut in health and superannuation, cutting
education by half and trebling unemployment?
And ACT policies are exactly where National is heading. As
coalition partners, there is no policy too extreme, too
devastating to New Zealanders for them. There is nothing
they wouldn't sell. There is no social service they
wouldn't cut.
* If your interest rates are high now, you better hope we
never get a National-ACT government.
* If you think unemployment is high now, you better hope
we never get the economic lunatics of ACT in bed with the
incompetents of National.
* If you think social services like health and education
are in trouble now, wait until the butchers of National
and ACT get at them.
There is an alternative.
There is going to be an Alliance-Labour Government after
the next election. Count on it. Bet the farm on it.
For the Alliance's part, I pledge to you we will do
everything we can to make it a visionary and progressive
Government for all New Zealanders.
The Alliance has just finished work on an alternative
monetary policy. It spells out in lucid detail the
alternative to the high interest rate, high exchange rate,
high unemployment path we're on.
Our alternative invests in the regions. In rural New
Zealand. It operates a sane monetary policy and a sane
foreign investment policy.
Our alternative makes employment, growth and the balance
of payments just as important as low inflation in economic
policy.
Our alternative ensures that foreign ownership of New
Zealand is only permitted when it can be shown to be in
our national interest.
Our alternative includes innovative and far-reaching
job-creation programmes including a regional investment
strategy with government-led investment.
That is where this country should be headed. That is where
the Alliance wants to make sure it is headed.
It is a future that farmers are going to prosper in. It is
a future that all New Zealanders should, and will,
welcome.
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"Seeking an Effective Democratic
Response to Globalization
and Corporate Power"
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a workshop retreat for those committed to systemic change
June 25 <incl> July 2 - 1998 - Nova Scotia - Canada
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Restore democratic sovereignty
Create a sane and livable world
Bring corporate globalization under control.
CITIZENS FOR A DEMOCRATIC RENAISSANCE (CADRE)
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