March 01, 2013
Asset sales about the rich and the rest
Labour leader David Shearer says the Supreme Court go-ahead for the sale of shares in Mighty River Power doesn’t change the fact the majority of New Zealanders oppose state asset sales.
The court this week ruled that the Crown had to act in a manner consistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi when dealing with the new Mixed Ownership Model companies, but that the sales should not impair the settlement of future water claims.
Mr Shearer says it’s disappointing the New Zealand Māori Council and Waikato River tribes were unable to stop the sale of an asset that belongs to all New Zealanders.
“The only people who are going to buy shares in this asset are people who have got the money to able to do it. Probably more that 90% of New Zealanders won’t have a look in where as all of us are losing an asset and a few people gaining from it. Those people who happen to have the cash. It’s really about the rich and this is the whole story about this government,” he says.
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