Prime Minister Helen Clark is questioning the credibility of National's promised moratorium on asset sales in a first term of government.
National leader John Key yesterday said his party would not sell any state assets in a first term of government, partly neutralising one of Labour's main attacks at its annual congress at the weekend.
But Miss Clark today called for clarification from National, questioning whether its new policy meant it would also abstain from preparatory work in its first term for sales in any subsequent term.
"It's not quite clear what it means. Does it mean there's no long-term plan. Does it mean there's no preliminary work to be done on it. Does it mean they don't spend a term preparing to sell assets.
"We're talking about a guy who when he became a deputy finance spokesperson said he couldn't see any reason why for example the Government owned three quarters of the electricity sector," she told Radio New Zealand.
"Frankly I have some difficulty swallowing this policy statement from him." She also suggested National might try and use government infrastructure bonds as a back-door method of diluting the government shareholding in state-owned enterprises.
Mr Key refused to talk about whether there would be sales in a second term, saying he was not prepared to write the party's 2011 policy now.
Asked on Radio New Zealand about preparatory work in a first term, he said: "We're not planning to do that".
He also would not comment on what assets National would like to sell if it did go down the track of asset sales.
Mr Key said he thought the struggling economy, rather than asset sales, would be the defining issue of the election campaign.
Yesterday he said focusing on assets would divert the party from lifting wages and other priorities. "If there's any change to that position then we'll come back to the people of New Zealand with transparency and seek a mandate for that," he said on TVNZ's Agenda programme.
Miss Clark yesterday said Mr Key's refusal to rule out future sales spoke volumes.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen also had a go at Mr Key over asset sales during his closing speech to the congress.
"(Mr Key is) a man who said he favoured asset sales, and then said he favoured partial asset sales, and then today on Agenda said he wouldn't have any asset sales in the first term of government -- although of course it doesn't stop him preparing for those asset sales in the second term of government -- but on Friday opposed us opposing asset sales in the form of Auckland Airport." National has criticised the government's decision on Friday to block a Canadian company buying a stake in Auckland International Airport.
It said the decision would affect future investment in New Zealand and confidence in the stock market. National would have approved the sale as long as the majority ownership remained in New Zealand hands.
On Agenda today, Mr Key said Labour was wrongly trying to portray the airport as an asset sale.
"This is an asset that was sold, rightly or wrongly ... a decade ago. This is about the change in composition of those shareholders."
