Hillside victim of government neglect
new-zealand-labour-party
Thu Apr 19 2012 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Hillside victim of government neglect
Thursday, 19 April 2012, 1:47 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Clare
CURRAN
MP for Dunedin South
19 April 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT
Hillside victim of government neglect
A deliberate campaign to make Kiwirail’s Hillside workshops commercially defunct has resulted in the sale of a valuable national asset, says Labour MP for Dunedin South Clare Curran.
“The decision to privatise Hillside, which Kiwirail will have made in consultation with the government, is the final in a series of moves which undermined the ability of the workshops to operate effectively.
“The National government must be held accountable,” Clare Curran said.
“National talks of prioritising jobs where costly convention centres in Auckland are at stake, but highly skilled railway workers in Dunedin have never been courted in the same way.
“This decision will affect more than 130 jobs, and around 75 Dunedin engineering businesses clustered around Hillside.
“National, has ignored the community who petitioned in their thousands for the workshops to be retained, and without any public consultation.
“Put simply, this is another asset sale from National. It represents the loss of another strategic asset which employed a loyal and skilled workforce.
“The decision not to bid for the $500 million contract for Auckland’s high speed rail, instead outsourcing contracts to China, can be seen as a precursor for today’s announcement.
“Hillside is hugely valuable part of Kiwirail’s infrastructure. This move is irresponsible and will have a negative impact on our infrastructure and workforce.
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“If National was serious about getting New Zealanders into work they would promote policies that have the interest of all of Kiwis at heart.
“Labour has long promoted a home-grown procurement policy to use major government contracts to back New Zealand firms instead of exporting jobs offshore.
“Today is another sorry example of a government bereft of ideas of how to grow the economy apart from selling off our future,” Clare Curran said.
ENDS
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