I could be forgiven for thinking that NZ voters have been tricked, once again, not only about "a review of MMP" but about asset sales this time. I cannot let this go without reiterating: Government! These are not yours to sell! It's kind of like if you went on holiday and left me with your key so that I could water your plants and feed your cat and you came back and I had sold your house and was keeping the money. Wouldn't you be really angry about that?

Anyway that's not the point, this is:

Election l Access Denied To Treasury Advice On Asset... | Stuff.co.nz

The Ombudsman has turned down a request by the Greens for the release of Treasury advice on asset sales.

After a two month investigation, Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem today released a final decision refusing the release of advice prepared for National on its proposed partial sale of four state-owned power companies and part of the Government's shareholding of Air New Zealand.

Greens co-leader Russell Norman says the Ombudsman had failed to come down on the side of public interest, which was disappointing.

"It means New Zealanders are going into Saturday's election not knowing the full picture of National's key election policy for 2011.

"We can reasonably assume the information that is being suppressed shows that there are significant constraints on the Government in relation to limiting foreign ownership of our state-owned assets."

National leader John Key must explain why his ministers seemed to be getting advice on extending privatisation to more state-owned assets than publicly admitted, he said.

"The only explanation for National refusing to release advice on foreign ownership of foreign assets is that it contradicts what they have been saying in public. It proves they have something to hide."

Dr Norman said international trade deals meant New Zealand couldn't simply put limitations on foreign ownership as Key had claimed.

"The only sure fire way to keep our energy companies in New Zealand ownership is to not privatise them."

Snip
You know in theory all government employees and politicians "work for the people" (yeah, I know that's the biggest joke ever) so you could compare this to a bookkeeper for a private company claiming that the "books" were "private" and should not be seen by the company owner. I think the bookkeeper would pretty soon be looking for another job - when he/she got out of jail that is.

I've heard some utterly ludicrous excuses for the ombudsman refusing to comply with the official information act, 1990, but this one "takes the cake". Hmmn, what do think "dishonest John" is hiding?

it should be clear just where nationals priorities lie

new zealand is fairly firmly back in the fold of the empire , but it does seem quite clear that our role is to be one of the traditional third world
we are to be a platform for exports from the empire , and eventually a source of cheap labour
( then theres a small mercanary role we may play for the empire )

and we would expect the same kind of policies that have been enacted in other countries assigned this same role , with the typical consequences

in this view , ownership of everything should be in private hands , and the wealthy elites of the empire should have just as much right to own new zealand , as the wealthy elites of new zealand do

i would assume that this process would proceeed with increasing accelration , with nationals 2nd term

Yep, pretty much agree with that last statement.

Doesn't it annoy you that government is trying to sell assets that ARE NOT THEIRS TO SELL??

Generations of NZers have worked hard to own these assets only to have some greedy parasites come along and trade them for a "handful of beans".

Doesn't it bug you also that the price of electricity is going to "skyrocket" again and again (even more so than it has because of previous government-greed policies in the past)?

i am more disappointed than annoyed
and im disappointed by more than just that

we are now entering a true capitalistic phase in new zealand
and in a capitalistic society , if you dont have capital , you're screwed

the only real way we can avoid this , is if we sever our ties to the empire
and that could have quite drastic consequences

Agreed! Totally! It is way past time that we severed our ties with the empire. I guess I'm kind of radical on this but I don't see how we owe any loyalty to a FOREIGN monarch.

England is not the "mother nation", it ceased to be that about 100 years ago. We have a parliament that swears its allegiance to the English queen and NOT THE PEOPLE, we have a military and a police force who SWEAR TO PROTECT THE ENGLISH QUEEN INSTEAD OF THE PEOPLE OF NZ (look up their "oath of allegiance" if you want to check that out). The NZ police exist to carry out government policy (policy made by a parliament who owes its allegiance to the English queen. They do not exist to protect the people of NZ in any way at all and are under no obligation to do so, the only obligation they have is to protect parliament and our system of government - in lieu of the English queen - FROM the people of NZ, i.e. to protect government from the people.

We really need no "posse comitatus" because our armed forces already work for a foreign power. Just AFTER WWII the NZ Navy (and I presume the army and airforce, I only read about the navy) became the "NZ Navy" instead of a branch of the English navy, but this is really in name only.

This is also (in my opinion) why the treaty of Waitangi is being given so much more prominence than seems logical. In 1940 SOME of the Maori chiefs were tricked into signing a treaty with QUEEN VICTORIA OF ENGLAND. This really has nothing to do with NZ today, and the NZ parliament, but we are all being fooled into thinking that it does, so that "the empire" will not be questioned.

Hmmn, the "republic of NZ" - has a nice ring to it. We need a constitution. You know that we are only one of three countries in the world without a constitution, don't you? The others are Israel and (surprise, surprise) ENGLAND, or actually the UK.

What "drastic consequences" are you thinking about?

We wouldn't need a governor general, and we could rent out "government house" for functions. Imagine having your wedding at (what used to be) Government House. After all we've just paid $144 million for its renovation.

I have an American friend who has lived here since 2002 and he was complaining about having to pay tax to the US AND to NZ gov'ts adding that this would not be the case if he became a NZ citizen. I said to him "well why don't you just do that, then?" He said that to do so he'd have to swear an oath to the queen and because of religious convictions he did not want to do this. I asked around and found out that anybody from anywhere who is an immigrant and wants to be a NZer has to swear allegiance to the queen. This is not fair, natural born NZers don't have to do it and I will admit that I would never swear an oath the a foreign monarch either.

ahhh , the empire i was talking about is the american empire
the british dont have an empire anymore ( altho they are part of the american empire )

at the end of ww2 , the yanks found themselves preeminent in the western world , and immediately set up a global system , of which we are a part
and finance , and whats called " penetration of markets " is a large part of this

the idea that american investors have just as much right to own new zealand land /companys /strategic assets is one aspect of this " global system "
this is the underlying premise of " globalisation "
the selling off of telecom , and new zealand owned infrastructure is really a crime against the average kiwi
but it benefits the most wealthy of new zealanders , as well as the empire


as for the consequences of disentangling ourselves from this system , and actually owning our own country , i believe the evidence of what happens is written large in history
those who would stand up for the majority of the population are labeled ( communist was the old favourite tag )
they are undermined by the media ( as they are either owned by wealthy elites , or are govt owned )
vast amounts of money are spent on propaganda campaigns

and if that fails to bring the "right kind of people", with the "right kind of priorities " into power
then there are military means available ( normally covert at 1st , the funding and support of the right groups , etc )

all you have to do is look at central and south america , the middle east , etc , to see exactly what the most powerful empire in history does when a country starts working for its own population , rather than the interests of the empire