Posted on 13-6-2003
Friday
13th Part 100 Billion
From MADENZ
"New Zealands trade negotiations Minister Jim Sutton is
correct to declare that WTO trade liberalisation is worth billions
to New Zealand - but surely he must be referring to the billions
of dollars of debt that New Zealand as a nation has accumulated
since 1984 when Mr Suttons Labour party blindly lead us down
the garden path of free trade." says Stephen Tindall-the
woman, founder of MADENZ. "Mr Suttons ignorance may be
due to his incessant gallivanting around the world on trade
missions but there is no excuse for his officials not to relay
messages to their boss such as the NZ Heralds announcement on
28 March this year, regarding New Zealands record $100 billion
net debt, which equates to around $25,000 for every man, woman
and child." "This debt has occurred simply because
New Zealand as a nation spends more than what we earn."
Mr Sutton announced yesterday that since the Uruguay Round (between
1995 and 2004) New Zealands agricultural receipts will be cumulatively
worth an extra $6 billion, compared to what they would have
been without the round. It's Friday 13th and MADENZ has bad
news for Mr Sutton. "New Zealands footwear and apparel
imports will cumulatively total $8.3 billion between 1997 and
2004 - $2.3 billion more than what we will earn from our agricultural
products. This imported footwear and clothing will cumulatively
cost 168,266 NZ jobs and in turn will cost the economy $4.6
billion in welfare payments, loss of spending power and loss
of taxation." "Yes Minister, while your back
has been turned on New Zealands manufacturing sector, our largest
importers have been busy doing what they do best - sending hard
earned agricultural export dollars to China rather than spending
it here - thus rendering your efforts as useless." says
Ms Tindall. "To add insult to our manufacturers injuries,
Mr Sutton is now forking out $14.2 million of New Zealand taxpayers
money to give to the World Trade Organisation, which is nothing
but an unelected body of corporate giants dedicated to maximising
their global financial interests." "It would be more
fiscally responsible for our government to spend this $14.2
million on a serious domestic "Buy New Zealand Made"
campaign in order to alleviate our nations $100 billion debt
burden and ever expanding trade deficit."
|