Super Campaign: Facts, Not Propaganda

Act's Rodney Hide gets all worked up over the Government's publicity plan.

Sunday, November 4th 2001, 10:26PM

ACT Finance spokesman MP Rodney Hide said today that Minister of Finance Dr Michael Cullen had better stick to the facts, not propaganda, in spending a million dollars of taxpayers' money to promote his state-run monopoly super fund.

"So far what we have had from Dr Michael Cullen has been long on rhetoric but very short on facts.

"The campaign is a waste of money - the government has jammed the fund through Parliament without care for what the public think.

"The good news at least is that Treasury is in charge of the campaign.

"I will be monitoring Treasury's performance most closely to see that they tell the public the same facts that they told the Finance and Expenditure Select campaign.

"It was Treasury's advice that led opposition MPs to oppose Cullen's fund.

"Here are the key facts that the public need to know:
* That every one of the $6.1 billion to be put into the fund over the next five years is to be borrowed;
* That the fund makes no difference to the cost of New Zealand super and doesn't make super in any way more affordable; * In its best year the fund only covers only 14% of the cost of super; and,
* That the fund is misnamed and is really an equalisation account that is built up for 25 years and then run down to nothing over the next 75 years.

"I will be scrutinising most rigorously Treasury's "information" campaign on behalf of their political master.

This is a press release from Act finance spokesman Rodney Hide.

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