Cunliffe: I am the change Labour needs

Labour MP David Cunliffe. Photo / Richard Robinson.

Labour leadership hopeful David Cunliffe says his comments regarding state assets sales were misinterpreted and he wouldn't necessarily buy back any assets sold under the National Government.

And he maintained that, despite his links with the Helen Clark era, his candidacy was just the change the Labour Party needed.

His remarks over asset sales yesterday caused consternation, when he told TVNZ's Q+A: "I want to look down the barrel and say this: if the Government is going to sell off precious state assets then we would not rule out re-nationalising some of them."

National plan to sell up to 49 per cent of the country's energy assets - Solid Energy, Mighty River Power, Genesis - and a further sell-down of Air New Zealand.

Today Mr Cunliffe maintained his position, but said there would be "no forced re-nationalisation".

"What I said was we couldn't rule out a situation where we would have to look at buying back part of those assets. The analogy for that is things like Tranz Rail, where they were threatening to close down important branch lines, or Air New Zealand where it had conflicts on the board because minority share holding meant it was dysfunctional.In both cases the previous Labour Government had to step back in.

"At no time have I said that would have to be a forced re-nationalisation and at no time have I ever said that would be without compensation. Nor have I said that was something we would have to do, I'm just saying we have to look at future circumstances as they arise and we couldn't rule it."

Mr Cunliffe maintained National did not have a mandate for the controversial policy.

"We would argue that when three quarters of New Zealanders have made clear they don't want them sold, even though National has won the election, they don't truly have the mandate for that sale."

He believed the proposed asset sales would be an important issue in the 2014 General Election.

"Under a Labour Party that I lead we will fight the asset sales programme tooth and nail every step of the way. We will take to the streets if we have to."

Helen Clark era is in the past

Mr Cunliffe said he had spoken to former Prime Minister Helen Clark since announcing his Labour leadership candidacy, but would not reveal the contents of that conversation.

"What I will be really clear about is that the change is about the future. It is not about the Clark era and is not about the previous administration."

Despite being a minister under the Clark administration, Mr Cunliffe believed he did represent the change the party needed.

"It would be absolutely mistaken to present my candidacy as somehow a continuation of the Clark era, it is not," he said. "I do not resile from the achievements of that Government or the valuable experiences that I learnt as a minister, like un-bundling Telecom, like sorting out the health sector in a pretty decisive way.

"But that is in the past, just like this year's election is in the past."

Yesterday, Mr Cunliffe told Q+A that Mr Shearer appeared to have the support of leader Phil Goff and deputy Annette King, but appeared content not to have their backing, saying the election result under their stewardship was a "good old fashioned shellacking".

"I'm not going to go into individual voting preferences," he said today. "What I am committed to is a thorough process of renewal, change at all levels of the organisation, and we need to take Labour to the 2014 election to win. That will mean bringing forward great new talent in our line up and it will mean allowing every caucus colleague to be the best that they can be."

Mr Cunliffe regretted the party had lost really good young talent when the caucus was slashed following the election and he would work to rejuvenate the party if made leader.

"We need a period of really careful analyse of the election result and we need to split that down to different communities and different issues.

"What we haven't done is connect with communities in a way so people are buying our brand. That'll be partly about line up and partly about how we market ourselves. It is about the walk that we walk over the next three years."