JIM ANDERTON AND THE CTU TELL PORKIES

Jim Anderton's Progressive Party and the Combined Trade Unions hierarchy have been busy rewriting history.

Taking a lesson from the Joe Stalin School of History, both the Progressive Party and the CTU have been altering the facts to suit their own agendas.

Recent press releases and advertising from the Jim Party and the CTU have credited the Progressive Party with four weeks annual leave, Kiwibank and paid parental leave.

In fact all these were policies were the work of the Alliance.

But wait,there's more! Alliance list candidate Quentin Findlay points out that Anderton and his Progressive Party are trying to take credit for policies introduced during 1999-2002 when the Progressive Party didn't even exist.

Anderton was leader of the Alliance during that period – and there were also ten other Alliance MPs in the 1999 to 2002 parliament as well as four Alliance MPs in Cabinet, including Jim Anderton.

“Kiwibank and Paid Parental Leave were Alliance achievements forced through Parliament and later, Cabinet by ten Alliance MPs sometimes in the face of opposition from the Labour Party, which only belatedly accepted them, such as Kiwibank.”, says Findlay.

Anderton left the Alliance when he couldn't get his own way and formed the Progressive Party - a party indistinguishable from Labour.

Findlay observes that the Progressive Party has achieved little and tows the Labour line on most issues. Anderton, once a traditional social democrat, has become just another free market politician.

'Progressive Party achievements over the past six years since 2002 could be counted on one hand', Findlay observes.

But while boasting about policies that it wasn't responsible for, the Progressive Party - and the CTU - have not mentioned that they have been fully behind the push for free trade agreements with low wage countries like China.

“Working people need to support the Alliance which has consistently fought for policies such as free education and health care, full employment, progressive taxes, economic democracy and fair trade.” says Findlay.