Saturday, December 17, 2011

Labour on the journey back to power...

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - OCTOBER 17:  Labour Pa...
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New Zealand Labour Party MP Grant Roberts in 2009
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English: David Shearer, New Zealand Labour Par...
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Labour Party President congratulates new leadership team...

The Labour Party caucus today elected Labour’s new leadership team.

David Shearer was elected as Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, with Grant Robertson as his deputy.

“I congratulate both David and Grant and look forward to working closely with them as we build towards a Labour victory in 2014”, Moira Coatsworth, President of the New Zealand Labour Party.

“David and Grant bring a fresh approach; a breadth of skills and a strong commitment to rebuild for a Labour win in 2014.

“I offer the Party’s thanks to outgoing leaders Phil Goff and Annette King. They shared a passion for making New Zealand a better and fairer society and I thank them for their contribution and their legacy of bold policy for the future.

“Our selection process enabled a robust contest of ideas throughout New Zealand. I congratulate all four candidates and party members nationwide for the way they contributed to the selection of our new leadership team,” Moira Coatsworth said.

The Clark years are well and truly behind Labour now; the Goff years were almost irrelevant. These are the days of David Shearer, Grant Robertson and the rebirth of the Labour party and New Zealand.

 David Cunliffe badly misjudged the political situation and has lost his chance of ever  leading Labour. Hope is on the way!

John Key and his old rusty lock administration is now on the way out!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6130205/Shearer-confirmed-as-Labour-Party-leader
English: David Shearer, New Zealand Labour Par...
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

NZ Govt expects $100 million in fees for its asset sales...

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - AUGUST 25:  National...
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businessdesk
 The government will probably stump up around $100 million in fees to investment banks preparing the partial sell-down of state-owned energy companies, according to State-Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall.
He told a media briefing in Wellington the mixed ownership model is a “very very big programme” but he wouldn’t expect to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for it. Rather it would be “more around $100 million.” That would work out to be around 1.8 percent of the sale price, which was in line with costs relating to the Contact Energy privatisation in 1999.
In June, Ryall told Parliament’s Commerce Select Committee the Treasury’s expected range of fees of between 2 percent and 9 percent was at the high end of the scale.
The government confirmed Mighty River Power as the first electricity generator and retailer to go to market, with a sale flagged for the third quarter next year. Treasury officials estimate the company could raise as much as $1.8 million.
Finance Minister Bill English said the government, as shareholder, is limited in what it can say due to securities market disclosure rules, but more information will be forthcoming in March or April next year once the lead manager has completed due diligence on the sale.
MRP, which operates under the retail brand Mercury Energy, is first off the rank due to its long-running chief executive Doug Heffernan and chairman Joan Withers being known to the market and its structure and scale being attractive investment opportunities.
“It’s a very good size to offer kiwis that should have very good interest to New Zealanders and sufficient scale to market,” Ryall said. MRP also has produced consistently better returns on capital than its two state-owned rivals and candidates for partial sale, Meridian and Genesis Energy.
The government hopes to raise as much as $7 billion by selling down minority stakes in Meridian, Genesis, MRP, coal miner Solid Energy, and Air New Zealand.
The sale programme will get legislative sign-off as part of the supply and confidence deal with United Future, which will remove the companies from the State Owned Enterprises Act and set a cap on the Crown’s level of ownership and how much a single entity can buy.
English talked down the threat to the programme caused by volatile global financial markets, saying the prospect of a steady return from utility companies was more attractive than other investment opportunities, and a better way to clamp down on new government debt.
He said he expects the companies will have New Zealand ownership of between 85 percent and 90 percent, with retail and institutional investors likely to divert property investment and some cash in term deposits into the shares.
Corporate iwi investors are likely to join institutional investors such as the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Accident Compensation Corp’s investment portfolio and KiwiSaver funds when the allocations are determined, English said.
He confirmed no shareholder, other than the government, will be allowed to own more than 10 percent of the partially private-owned entities.

(BusinessDesk
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Labour leadership voting...

English: David Shearer, New Zealand Labour Par...
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David Cunliffe at the NZ Open Source Awards, 2007
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Labour leader contenders focus on undecided MPs

Updated 15 minutes ago
MPs in the contest for the Labour Party leadership are concentrating on securing the votes of their caucus colleagues who remain undecided.
Labour leader Phil Goff and his deputy Annette King have announced they are stepping down on 13 December.
David Cunliffe believes he's the clear choice to become Labour leader.
David Cunliffe believes he's the clear choice to become Labour leader.

Four contenders are mid-way through a series of meetings where they are putting their case directly to party members.
David Shearer, the MP for Mt Albert, says he is quietly confident of winning the leadership when MPs cast their vote next Tuesday.
Mr Shearer says there is still a group of MPs who have yet to make up their mind and he will be working hard to convince them he is the best candidate.
His rival, Mt Albert MP David Cunliffe, says it will come down to who the caucus thinks is ready for the role - and believes it is clear that person is him.
Central Wellington MP Grant Roberston says he would like to be deputy in a team led by Mr Shearer, but says they are not running on a formal ticket.
Mr Cunliffe is running on a ticket with Hauraki-Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta as his deputy.
MPs will vote at next Tuesday's caucus meeting, with separate votes for the positions of leader and deputy leader.
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key and Banks chart course to total disaster - political ideology not education...

education
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Millionaire ideologues Key and Banks  chart course to educational disaster...

John Banks assertion that he will, hand-pick 'like-minded' people to implement the controversial charter schools trial is proof the proposal is about political ideology, not educational achievement says Labour's Education Spokesperson, Sue Moroney.
"Given that he only represents 1% of the population, Mr Banks assertion to Radio Live yesterday that he would surround himself with 'like-minded people' means he will be choosing from a small pool of people," said Sue Moroney.
"The future of our children's education is too important for politics to rule over best educational practise.
"The education system is meant to be about doing what is best for children and their future, not shonky political deals that have excluded the public and the education sector.
"It is quite clear from John Banks' insistence that Onehunga High School is a charter school, when it clearly isn't, that he has no idea what he is talking about.
"If he doesn't know what charter schools are, how can it be his policy that he insisted on?
"John Key seems to know a lot more about the detail of the policy, than John Banks does, so who's policy is it?" Sue Moroney said.
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