Free trade dairy debacle result of Nats and Labour free trade obsession

Alliance Party media release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday 26 May 2009

The Alliance Party says that the National Government and Labour opposition should "get off the grass" with their pathetic response to the collapse of free trade in dairy products with the USA.

Alliance Party spokesperson Victor Billot says that the United States has dropped a bombshell on the pet free trade theories of National and Labour.

"John Key and Phil Goff promised the world and they delivered a rotten milkshake."

Mr Billot says the so-called realists who promoted free trade have been exposed as naive amateurs.

"Unregulated capitalism is dead in the water, New Zealand is sliding into the morass of the unfolding global recession, and the National Government is whining that the big boys are not playing fair."

He says that free trade worked for powerful, developed economies, and when it no longer worked in their interests, they abandoned it overnight.

"While manufacturing continues to evaporate in New Zealand due to destructive free market policies, we were told that we would come through on dairy and tourism. That illusion has now been laid to rest."

Mr Billot says it is painful to listen to the Prime Minister publicly complain that US President Obama had not said anything about the issue in their much-reported telephone conversation.

"John Key sounds like a teenager who has been stood up for a date."

He says it is amazing that the Labour Party has joined the "chorus of whining" on the issue.

Mr Billot says that no party that claimed to support workers, the public good or social justice could support free trade.

"The Labour Party is still in Rogernomics mode with free trade, under the leadership of Phil Goff, and they are singing the same old song as National that went out of fashion in the nineties."

"Free trade is not a long term option and never was. It is undemocratic and works in the interests of big business. It is environmentally disastrous and treats workers as commodities, not human beings."

The Alliance Party supported a realistic alternative to free trade and free market capitalism.

"We support fair trade, international regulations especially on finance and the exploitation of workers, and a stable and secure New Zealand economy. This requires a strong level of public ownership and policies that promote a full range of industries."

ENDS

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