Veteran campaigner socks it to multinationals
Murray Horton. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh
No doubt stirred up by the spurious Greywolf debacle, around 60 locals turned up to hear veteran anti-foreign control campaigner Murray Horton talk at the Senior Citizens Hall in Takaka last Wednesday evening (1 June)—almost the exact number who heard him speak in Nelson the previous night.
His fast-paced and well-practised delivery, complete with overhead, went on for around 80 minutes as he denounced what he called the “relentless takeover” of New Zealand businesses by transnational corporations, and the privatisation of our public assets.
Particular mention was given to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), which he said our government was intending to sign in November after secret negotiations with nine countries.
“It’s a NZ/US trade deal in disguise, sadly which both our main political parties see as the Holy Grail.” Murray also detailed what he sees as the behind-the-scenes reabsorption of this country back into the “US Empire” and strategies by which ordinary New Zealanders can fight that process.
“Nuclear-free NZ is part of our political DNA now, yet there has been substantial progress made behind everyone’s backs to get us back on board by the United States. This is not a conspiracy theory. Wiki Leaks gave us a rare glimpse into US Embassy efforts here to identify and marginalise non-sympathetic personnel in the NZ government. We allow the Waihopai Spy Base to operate here, yet part of its job is to spy on the phone and email conversations of ordinary New Zealanders.”
Also tackled was the current “recolonisation” of New Zealand by foreign investors.
“This isn’t about immigration; we’re all immigrant stock after all. It’s about the big, bully-boy overseas investors ripping us off in the name of the mighty dollar. It’s nothing new of course. It’s been going on in phases for decades. First it was the buy-up of North Island coastal land, then South Island high country and tracts for forestry blocks, now there’s this sudden surge of interest in dairy farms from Chinese investors. That latest one is a direct result of our 2008 free trade deal with China.
“These free trade agreements are not debated in parliament or are even subject to any public submission process. They are approved in secret by executive government decrees.”
It wasn’t only the Americans and Chinese who came under fire. Murray outlined our “biggest-ever tax avoidance scam”, recently foisted on New Zealand by the big four Australian-owned banks that operate here. Murray says they took offshore a record 2.2 billion in revenue that should have stayed here as tax. “It’s a [John] ‘Key’ myth that transnationals are good for Kiwi jobs. That’s simply not true. Fewer than 18 per cent of us work for companies that are controlled by foreign investment—and they’re always looking to reduce that. Just look how Telecom outsourced jobs to the Philippines. Be aware what’s happening—you don’t want to wake up one day and realise we live in a country that literally isn’t ours anymore, stripped of all its assets at our expense.”
For more info, see www.cafca.org.nz or www.nznotforsale.org.nz
Gerard Hindmarsh
