The proposed buyout of the Crafar dairy empire by Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings, a Cayman Islands registered, Hong-Kong based company - previously known by the more illuminating name of the China Jin Hui Mining Corporation - should start alarm bells ringing with the New Zealand public, says the Productive Economy Council.

The public has a historical resistance to asset sales, but many might not understand that our agricultural sector is just such an asset, of such importance to the economy that selling large parts of it off to foreign interests is not in the national interest.

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“There is a general consensus across all political parties and government bodies that New Zealand’s economic future is precarious - our exports are low, our debt is high, our relative standard of living continues to decline. As a small, open trading economy with a heavily reliance on commodity exports, coupled with a volatile exchange rate, we are prone to “boom and bust” cycles.

But the public discourse for many years has been limited to the solutions of the neo-liberal right. They haven’t worked. New Zealand Fabians believe that we need a wider debate, and a wider range of progressive options and solutions to consider and discuss.”

Mike Smith, Chair of the New Zealand Fabian Society announces its seminar and lecture series kicking off next month in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, over at Publicaddress.net