Asset sales

IN DRIVING the No Asset Sales petition (‘‘Petition on asset sales too little too late’’, Leader, January 6), Grey Power violates its mission statements to be non-partisan and all-inclusive.

Presenting itself as an appendage, first to the NZ First Party, now to Labour and the Green Party, is clearly counterproductive. Membership of 96,000 some five years ago has dropped by approximately 8000 per annum to 55,000 paid-up members last year. What clearer message can be sent for non-partisan all-inclusive democracy to rule? THE EDITORIAL misrepresents the 2011 election result. Only 48.45 per cent of voters voted for parties that supported such sales, scarcely ‘‘a handsome level of support’’.

If you accept the premise that it was a one-issue election, the majority of voters opposed asset sales. Further, the Government has not ‘‘[seen] off the Maori Council’s court action over water rights’’ as this issue is still before the courts. ‘‘Rallying the troops’’ between elections does matter and a referendum will show the weight of voter opinion on this one issue, as it is a major transfer of wealth from the whole of society to the already well-off. THE EDITORIAL is timely. Since the mid-80s, New Zealand has lurched into a Right-wing, freemarket ideology, and we have been divesting ourselves of our assets. Prime Minister John Key’s desire to sell is further proof of the ideological times we live in.

In 2011, National was able to convince voters and opponents alike to leave any serious debate to the five weeks before the election, after the Rugby World Cup. Perhaps the most memorable moment of that entire campaign was when Key said ‘‘show me the money’’. Poor and impoverished New Zealanders positively drooled.

Now we see National ratchet up their plan to further divest this nation of what little capital remains in the public purse. Government has put its head into the sand and not endorsed continuing participation in the Kyoto protocol and moved agriculture’s inclusion in the emissions trading scheme to the back-burner. Even though New Zealand is a small polluter in a global sense, we should at least be seen to be participating in efforts to address the problem. doesn’t know who the All Blacks are (‘‘Gay All Black wanted – to help tackle bigotry’’, News, January 6). Yet Gray now expects some luckless All Black, whose name will apparently mean nothing to him, to put his name and career on the line by ‘‘outing’’ himself in pursuance of Gray’s very debatable theory that this will somehow ‘‘fight bigotry’’.

Let me encourage this imaginary gay All Black to ignore such calls.

Gay ‘‘role models’’ have been noticeably ineffective in changing attitudes. The best that can be done is to deflect the attention of the world’s bigots by ceasing to flaunt gayness in their faces. abused children on one hand, and on the other, mollycoddled ones drugged to their eyeballs by anxious parents. attitude to sex it is little wonder that the church is struggling to remain relevant.