- New Zealand's largest trade union is calling on the prime minister to rule out privatisation and asset sales
- ACT Party leader David Seymour says New Zealand needs to get away from the squeamishness of the subject of privatisation, and question whether the benefits of owning an asset outweigh the costs to taxpayers
- Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it is something he is open to discussing further
- Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick says Luxon needs to be absolutely clear whether his intention is to privatise or retain services in public ownership.
New Zealand's largest trade union, the Public Service Association, is calling on the prime minister to rule out privatisation and asset sales following ACT leader David Seymour's State of the Nation speech.
Speaking from the Auckland suburb of Ōrākei, Seymour said New Zealand needed to get past the "squeamishness about privatisation".
He said it was ACT's role to be the "squeaky wheel" in government, and implored a careful focus on three areas of government activity: "Spending, owning and regulating."
"Why government spends a dollar it has taxed or borrowed, and whether the benefits of that outweigh the costs. Why government owns an asset, and whether the benefits to citizens outweigh the costs to taxpayers of owning it. Why a restriction is placed on the use and exchange of private property, and whether the benefits of that regulation outweigh the costs on the property owner."
Seymour also spoke about healthcare, saying "we now spend $6000 per citizen on healthcare". He asked the audience members how many of them would give up their right to the public healthcare system if they got to spend on their own private insurance.
"Should we allow people to opt out of the public healthcare system, and take their portion of funding with them so they can go private?"
On education, he referenced "$333,000 of lifetime education spending for each citizen" and asked how many people would take that amount to spend on their own education.
He then referenced the "over half a trillion dollars of assets" the government owned, pointing to state houses, hospital projects, and farms with high levels of animal death.
The government was hopeless at owning assets, he said.
"We need to get past squeamishness about privatisation and ask a simple question: If we want to be a first-world country, then are we making the best use of the government's half-a-trillion dollars plus worth of assets? If something isn't getting a return, the government should sell it so we can afford to buy something that does."
ACT leader David Seymour made the comments in a State of the Nation speech in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
But Public Service Association acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons told RNZ these were "extreme right-wing policies", and had no place in New Zealand.
"We'll end up with a system of private health and private education where only rich people can access services," she said.
"It's not the New Zealand way.
"These are extreme right-wing policies that have failed in New Zealand before."
Fleur Fitzsimons. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The Public Service Association was calling on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to rule out privatisation and asset sales now and in the future, she said.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick agreed, and said Luxon needed "to be absolutely clear with the country whether his intention is to privatise our public services or to retain them in public ownership".
"I unfortunately don't hold out a heck of a lot of hope," she said.
"We heard from him in his very own State of the Nation speech ... his intention to effectively turn the country into a chop shop and sell it off for parts of the highest bidder.
"Using words like 'overseas investment' is effectively a euphemism for privatising infrastructure."
Meanwhile, Luxon said he was open to a conversation about selling off state assets, but said it was "not something on our agenda right now".
"What is on our agenda is actually how we accelerate economic growth, but it's something that I'm open to discussing further, in the long term."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is open to discussing the idea of selling off state assets further. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said he was not surprised by Seymour's State of the Nation speech.
"That is ultimately this government's agenda. It's the most right-wing neoliberal government that we've seen since the early 1990s," he said.
"They want to defund, destabilise and privatise as much of the public service as they possibly can, and that includes things like healthcare, things like education and so on."
However, Hipkins said he did not think it was an agenda most New Zealanders supported.
Swarbrick said she was "incredibly frustrated" that the debate around how to resolve these issues had seemed to now be focused on privatisation.
"The reality is that there are far more options that are on the table and we need to be able to and willing to have a rational, honest and evidence-based conversation to confront these infrastructural deficits as a country.
"Yeah, sure, privatising is one option. Let's be honest about the consequences of that privatising. It means that a few people will make a heck of a lot of money and that a bunch of people will not be able to access the services that they expect.
"The other options that we have are to increase our appetite for taking on debt or to fix our tax system."
"For all of the noise and the bluster that we're hearing about needing to put solutions on the table or broaden the frame of debate, let's have a real honest debate as a country about these kinds of options and the consequences that come from them."
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