Sapo

Hi all. Personalities aside.
THIS is what I find the most disgusting and short-sighted about the National Party.
They are rich enough to never have to live with the consequences of their own actions in selling what we have purchased with our shared investment over generations
- are you?

For the most part, people objected to these sales of public assets but ince they are in a path, the NATS DONT EVER LISTEN to the people who's best interests they are charged with looking after. Under neoliberalism bot main parties have sold our stuff- but ChatGPT shows National WAYEEEE ahead on ASSET sales.
Now they ate gunning down our public health system. Don't be fooled by their deceit. The reason it isn't working is a direct result of their actions.

Over the past 50 years, New Zealand’s National and Labour governments have pursued different approaches to public asset sales. National governments have generally favored privatization and asset sales more than Labour governments, which tend to prefer state ownership of key assets. Below is an overview of key public asset sales under both parties during this period.

Public Asset Sales by National Governments:

1. 1980s-1990s (Lange Labour & Bolger National Governments)
• Air New Zealand (1989, partially sold): Initially privatized, though the government later repurchased shares in the early 2000s under Labour.
• Telecom NZ (1990): Sold under the Bolger-led National government for NZ$4.25 billion, one of the largest privatizations in New Zealand’s history.
• New Zealand Rail (1993): Sold to private owners, though later repurchased by the Labour government.
• State Insurance (1990s): Sold by the National government.
• PostBank (1989): Sold to ANZ by the Lange Labour government (which preceded the Bolger government).

2. 2008-2017 (John Key-led National Government)
• Mighty River Power (2013): The government sold 49% of its shares in this state-owned electricity generator and retailer.
• Meridian Energy (2013): 49% of Meridian, another electricity generator, was sold by the government.
• Genesis Energy (2014): National sold 49% of the electricity generator.
• Air New Zealand (partial stake sale, 2013): The government reduced its stake to around 53% in a partial sell-down.
• Solid Energy (proposals for sale, partial restructuring): While not a direct sale, Solid Energy faced significant restructuring and financial difficulties, leading to its eventual liquidation.

Public Asset Sales by Labour Governments:

Labour governments have historically been more cautious about asset sales and have sometimes reversed National’s privatizations. However, there have been some sales, especially in the 1980s during the Rogernomics era under Finance Minister Roger Douglas. Key asset sales during Labour governments include:

1. 1984-1990 (David Lange-led Labour Government)
• PostBank (1989): Sold to ANZ during the late stages of the Labour government.
• New Zealand Steel (1987): Sold to Equiticorp for $327 million.
• Petrocorp (1988): Sold to Fletcher Challenge.
• Shipping Corporation of New Zealand (1989): Privatized.
• Telecom NZ (Prepared for privatization): Although sold by National, the preparations for the sale began during the Lange government.

2. 1999-2008 (Helen Clark-led Labour Government)
• Few direct sales of public assets: Labour was largely focused on retaining public ownership. Notably, Labour re-nationalized some assets:
• Air New Zealand (2001): Labour repurchased a controlling stake in Air New Zealand after it faced financial collapse.
• KiwiRail (2008): Labour re-nationalized the rail network and rebranded it as KiwiRail after private owners struggled to maintain profitability.

3. 2017-present (Jacinda Ardern-led Labour Government)
• No significant public asset sales: The Ardern government has generally not pursued large-scale privatizations. Instead, it has focused on public investment, particularly in housing, health, and infrastructure.

Summary:
• National Government: Significant privatization occurred, especially during the 1990s and early 2010s, with assets such as Telecom NZ, Mighty River Power, Meridian Energy, and Genesis Energy being partially or fully sold.
• Labour Government: Labour has historically been more cautious with privatization. While some sales occurred in the 1980s under Rogernomics, Labour has re-nationalized key assets such as Air New Zealand and KiwiRail. The Clark and Ardern governments did not pursue large-scale privatization.

National has NEVER bought public asset back that I know of and they are deregulating to sell off public water assets, privatise public health etc. Labour has a far greater responsibility for Public assets, stewardship, service and co governance from my experience.

I feel so betrayed by this government and by the foolish people who are still asleep- thinking they can't do it. Um... why not?
They've already privatised multiple public assets guys. Have people forgotten that we pay some of the highest energy bills in the OECD because -was it Bolger or Shipley who sold our public power grid? .
They have lied to everyone, deceived you since the election campaign.
PPP is the American Healthcare model- ask yourself why that wealthy CEO of a health insurance company was really shot by a desperate man-
Because public health is such a great investment (ie it's only not working because this government has starved it of support and manipulated it by making it too hard to employ staff) - they have profit focused buyers lined up around the block. Be smart, if they can make a profit- why are we to believe its 'broken'?

On Friday, Luxon and Reti were at Ormiston Private Hospital to talk up the benefits of private money in public health.

Luxon and Reti said we were going to enter into more public private partnerships i.e. privatisating health, and paying to use more health services from private clinics.

Reti said ~10% of electives are currently done in private facilities and talked up the prospect of increasing that # significantly.

I wanted a journalist to ask about costs - of course, everyone knows that it’s possible to use private facilities - but why are they intentionally starving the public health system of funds, while saying they want to pay private facilities more?

Would it not make more sense to invest in the public health system now, rather than axe critical public health services, cut health technology investments, spend $268,000 ($3720 per page) to come up with a Dunedin hospital cost estimate that was immediately debunked by Dunedin’s Mayor, and effectively cut frontline and back office health practitioners?

If we care about our health system, the money they are cutting now needs to be paid back in the future with interest - i.e. they are actively adding to our public infrastructure deficit - and worse - losing top talent that could be helping us solve complex health cases.

Two months ago, a report in the NZ Medical Journal said it was impossible to cut $1.4bn from our health budget without impacting frontline services.

So last week the Government quietly upped the cuts to healthcare a round $2 billion instead.

How does this make sense?

For NZ - I mean.

Besides Chomsky’s observation, the NZ Company Directory provides other clues to the scene

One of the Health Commissioner Lester Levy’s directorships is in a jointly owned private health company called NZ Cylotron.

Cylotron is a product of Mercy Radiology and Cyclowest.

Mercy Radiology is a private radiology clinic.

Cyclowest operates in the private nuclear medicine space, and partners with radiology services. They say “Private providers such as Cyclowest are working to fill the demand gap”.

That sounded similar to what Reti and Luxon said at last week’s press stand up.

In total, Lester Levy has 64 current or past shareholdings and Directorships listed. He has also advocated to run healthcare as a business.

And the former Health Minister Shane Reti owns shares in a private hospital through “Reti Holdings”.

While Christopher Luxon liquidated 3 investment properties in 2024 and is now flush with cash for new "investment opportunities"

I’m not suggesting anything is not above board - but this is also what the Ministers rely on.

Plausible deniability.

I am highlighting that public service is usually protected from real or perceived conflicts of interest for a very important reason:

The public need to have confidence and trust in public officials.

Once they don’t, it becomes a slippery slope down the ladder of democratic norms and trust.

Full article / video - October 2024
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