Brash on state assets
Keep Left NZ has an amusing new video showcasing the “highlight moment” of last week’s TV3 debate. The exchange on state assets was as follows:
Don Brash: The National Party has said that we will not be selling assets in the next term at least.
Helen Clark: I read the National Party’s state assets policy only two days ago. And it quite clearly said that they would look to sell the farms that Landcorp has, many, many farm properties. And it also said it would be looking to bring private shareholding into our state coal company, Solid Energy. So, I think it’s better that Dr Brash reads his policy, gets on top of the detail, and says what it says.
[crowd laughter]
Don Brash: The Prime Minister is quite correct. Helen Clark is quite right. We’re talking about selling a small farms. And we’ve also said we’ll sell a minority stake in Solid Energy. And we’ve said we’ll sell some farms from Landcorp. That’s quite right.
I wonder whether Dr Brash’s advisors have reminded him that it’s probably not the best idea to say three times in one answer that Helen Clark, and not Don Brash, has accurately described a National Party policy 
Just a thought.
August 15th, 2005 at 11:46 am
At least he acknowledges what some of his supporters fail to - that Helen Clark gets it right, a lot.
August 15th, 2005 at 12:28 pm
Funny that you forget to mention that under the current Labour/Green government, that Michael Cullen granted both Transpower AND Airways Corporation the right to sell off (technically a lease, but because we can’t see the terms of the lease we don’t know how long it is for - if it is for the lifetime of the asset then it is effectively a sale) the High Voltage DC link from Benmore to Haywards, including the Cook Strait cable, and the assets that manage one of the largest airspace coverages in the world. Michael Cullen went so far as to ask permission from the US Ambassador in Wellington as to whether the deals were legal in 2002 (which they were). The deals have now been banned by the US Inland Revenue as they were associated with the collapse of Enron. Opps. Transpower grid deal prompts tougher tax rules (Stuff). And in the past couple of months, Cullen has now flip-flopped on the issue of leasing deals and is now telling SOE’s not to get into these leasing deals. Hmmm. Smells like our current Labour/Green Government is just as guilty of Asset Sales as anyone else!
August 15th, 2005 at 1:16 pm
We currently don’t have a Labour-Green government, we have a Labour-Jim’s Progressive-United No Future government.
Maybe if we had a Labour-Green government then Labour would not have made so many dodgy decisions.
August 15th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
I’m sorry, I guess seeing Jeanette so close to Helen confused me
The Greens generally support Labour on supply, so thats close enough for me. I would be interested to hear the Green view on Cullens State Asset dealings - is this something they support or disapproved of?
August 15th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
Possibly that wasn’t mentioned as, despite it being true, it wasn’t relevant to the topic. No matter what you think of asset sales, that moment was the one in which Don lost the debate. The audience laughed at him, which was nothing to do with the policy, but with him being forced to contradict himself so quickly.
August 15th, 2005 at 1:37 pm
Ghet - I’m not defending Brash, I think he handled it poorly too. The format of debate actually makes it very difficult to refute any allegations - generally a refuation takes longer to respond than the allegation itself, and this a problem that all parties will face.
I just want to make the point that neither of the major parties are clean when it comes to asset sales - especially because it most recently occured under our current Government.
August 15th, 2005 at 5:20 pm
Bernard wrote “The Greens generally support Labour on supply, so thats close enough for me.”
It’s Jim boy and Peter Dunhill who support Labour on supply.
Look at the voting record. The Greens did not give confidence and supply to Labour in 2002.
More confusion on the right
August 15th, 2005 at 11:32 pm
Indeed. Further to that they also voted against the 03 and 04 budgets, while they abstained on the 05 budget as a sign of goodwill, showing a willingness to work with Labour post-election.
August 16th, 2005 at 11:50 pm
And they say power does not corrupt absolutely….