National to flog family silver and jack up GP fees

The EPMU says National’s plan to sell off state-owned assets if it comes into power is reckless and its plan to remove caps on GP fees will hurt working families.

National’s deputy leader Bill English confirmed the party’s intention to sell off some state assets this week but would not discuss which assets they had in mind.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says it’s likely National would considering selling Solid Energy, NZ Post and Kiwibank, all of which are EPMU-unionised workplaces.

“The privatisation of strategic assets like NZ Post and Kiwibank would just be irresponsible. These companies play a strategic role in the economy and they need to be owned by the public to ensure stability and long-term investment.

“The last time National were in power they privatised core infrastructure like Telecom and the electricity industry and the New Zealand public and our members working in these industries are still suffering for it.

“National needs to come clean with voters over which public assets they plan to sell down and why they feel such a pressing need to sell successful and profitable publicly owned companies into private ownership.”

National also caught flack this week after the party was forced to reveal its plan to abolish the patient support policy by removing caps on GP fees put in place by the government last year in exchange for higher subsidies.

The scheme has seen doctors’ fees drop significantly, encouraging low-income families to visit a doctor when they are ill rather than leaving it until it becomes a major issue.

However, under National’s plan “the market” would decide prices. John Key defended the policy saying, “It’s called a market, and if they decide to charge a lot more then probably someone will decide to go down the road.”

Petra van den Munckhof of Health Care Aotearoa, which has 57 clinics nationwide and charges a flat fee of $10 a consultation, told The Press that National's health policy was shocking.

“This is going to cost New Zealand dearly, with more people not getting treatment and ending up in hospital.

“All international experience supports that whenever you have privatisation or you leave it to market forces, those that need it the most get the least.”

You can view TV3 footage of National's plan to jack up GP fees here .