Nats borrow a page from Roger Douglas' playbook

National's attempt to use debt to scare New Zealanders into accepting asset sales is straight from Sir Roger Douglas' playbook and, as Sir Roger himself admitted, makes no sense, Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman said today.

Dr Norman attempted to table in the House today a passage from Out of the Woods by Reg Birchfield and Ian Grant in which Sir Roger is quoted saying "I'm not sure we were right to use the argument that we should privatise to quit debt; we knew it was a poor argument but we probably felt it was the easiest to use politically".

The Budget Policy Statement 2012 shows asset sales would add $100 million a year to government debt.

Asset sales make debt worse, not better,
"Asset sales make debt worse, not better," said Dr Norman.

"The debt reduction achieved by asset sales in the 1980s and 1990s has been vastly outweighed by the lost income to the government.

"Now, National is planning to repeat that mistake with asset sales that would add $100 million a year to government debt.

"Sir Roger Douglas admitted using debt to justify asset sales does not make sense.

"It is time for National to admit it is just engaged in a propaganda effort to sell an unpopular policy to Kiwis," said Dr Norman.