Govt's Superfund dead on arrival
"Winston Peters told Parliament tonight (Tuesday) he would not sign up for ongoing support of the Superfund as required by the legislation, even though he says he will vote for the bill.
"This means that once the bill is passed, only Labour and the Alliance will sign up to Part II which provides for individual parties to support the super fund. Labour and the Alliance are not a Parliamentary majority.
"This is an unexpected turn of events showing the tide of public opinion is beginning to move against the super fund.
"The legislation is meant to last 100 years but it won't have a majority on day one."
Dr Cullen has touted Part III as a mechanism to force political parties to sign up publicly to the super fund. "We warned him Mr Peters' support was fickle, but we didn't expect he'd change his mind so soon."
"We have all presumed that Winston Peters and New Zealand First would sign the political commitment required. This announcement makes his vote for the bill a nonsense. It means the majority of Parliament does not support the fund.
"The legislation cannot survive if its does not have majority support in Parliament," Mr English says.
This is a press release from the National Party.