Political and general history of Aotearoa - New Zealand

Shipley signals increased user pays

Press Release: New Zealand Alliance Party
17 February 1998

"There are twelve separate areas where the government is imposing extra costs on ordinary New Zealand households," Alliance leader Jim Anderton said.

"Mrs Shipley has used code words, but the meaning is clear.

"You will pay more for ACC premiums. You will pay user charges for roads. Ordinary households and small businesses will face costs from postal deregulation and privatised SOEs. You will have to pay more for health insurance as more of the public health system gets privatised. You will have to pay more for your retirement as Mrs Shipley sets out to smash universal publicly provided Superannuation from 2010.

"This government is planning dramatic increases in costs facing the ordinary household.

"This is not an agenda that will create more wealth by creating more jobs. It is not an agenda which will create a fairer, more caring and more exciting country.

"It's the agenda begun by Roger Douglas fourteen years ago and the irony is that the more it fails, the more bad medicine we're prescribed."

Twelve separate areas where user charges will increase:

• Superannuation: removal of universal national superannuation from 2010;
• Higher energy charges following privatisation of Contact;
• Higher user charges and lower government revenue from sale of Auckland airport;
• Higher user charges following sale of further SOEs;
• Higher user charges and reduced service following postal deregulation;
• Higher user charges following ARST asset privatisation;
• Reduced wages/conditions from removal of minimum holiday entitlement and removal of the Employment Court;
• Higher ACC premiums;
• Higher electricity charges from further splits in ECNZ;
• Road user charges;
• Higher health care costs from accelerated privatisation (described as 'integrated care/more community trusts')
• Wasted cost of posting Code of Social Responsibility to every household.

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