The SOE challenge
The Herald reports: The chairman of Solid Energy says at least part of the state-owned coal miner should be sold off to raise billions of dollars needed for new projects, including more mines. John...
View ArticleSome common sense emerging from Labour
On Friday, Labour released a speech David Cunliffe gave on Thursday. It gave me hope for a more rational Labour Party. First: Crucially in a capital constrained fiscal environment, we will better...
View ArticleNZ Herald on SOEs
The NZ Herald editorial: The labour Party’s finance spokesman, David Cunliffe, raised some eyebrows last Thursday when he spoke favourably of allowing state-owned enterprises to form subsidiaries in...
View ArticleAn outright fib
Matt McCarten writes in the HoS: John Key, a successful corporate speculator himself, has announced that if the National Party is elected again then he’d see that as a mandate for selling off the rest...
View ArticleKey signals less debt while Goff promises more debt
Over two days we’ve seen two dramatically different paths outlines for the Government. Yesterday Phil Goff promised more borrowing and more debt. Today John Key announced the opposite – that National...
View ArticleLabour’s challenge
Labour have a challenge in whipping up opposition to National’s likely policy to allow people to invest in four power company SOEs, while retaining majority crown ownership and control. When Phil Goff...
View ArticleConsumer on Power SOEs
The Herald reported: Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin agreed with Mr Key’s assessment that electricity prices would not increase with partial privatisation. “The power companies over the past 10...
View ArticleIs NZ Labour more ideological than the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party?
I’ve made the point in the past that NZ Labour’s insistence that not even a single share of any currently owned crown company can be sold, is way outside the mainstream for not just the centre right...
View ArticleEaston on partial sales
Stuff reports: Brian Easton, an economist known for left-of-centre views, is wary the scheme will block future policy options for the electricity sector but supports the benefits it can bring to the...
View ArticleTamihere on SOE part-sales
Former Labour MP John Tamihere writes: I support the partial sale of these assets regardless. Majority ownership will be held by the New Zealand Government. New Zealand money, which is flooding...
View ArticleHoS on Key
The Herald on Sunday editorial: Putting the merits of the sale plan aside for a moment, Key’s transparency is to be applauded. He said he would not sell off assets without the voters having their say,...
View ArticleLabour’s priorities
Tracy Watkins at Stuff reports: Labour will introduce a bill preventing the sale of key strategic assets without a clear public mandate, says Labour leader Phil Goff. Goff said the bill would require...
View ArticleAn advantage of listing SOEs
Hamish Rutherford at Stuff reports: State-owned Meridian Energy has taken a $90 million writedown on some of its niche businesses as part of a “tidy-up” as it prepares for life as a private company....
View ArticleThe 10% cap for SOEs
The Government has announced a 10% cap for any one shareholder in the SOEs which will have minority stakes sold off, if the Government is re-elected. This will have two impacts. The first is that it...
View ArticleThe politics of asset sales
My NZ Herald column is on the politics of asset sales. I look at the risks to the Government, and ask and answer the question about why they are doing it , despite the political risk. Tags: Asset...
View ArticleDo the Greens support privatisation?
The Greens job document says: … encourage employees to take an ownership stake in their companies. I absolutely agree with the Greens on this. Employee should be encouraged to become share-holders in...
View ArticleLabour hysterically redefining privatisation
Most people know what privatisation is, which is the sale or transfer of a publicly owned asset to the private sector. Labour is so upset that National has completed its asset sales programme, that...
View ArticleThe town that privatised everything!
Joe Kent writes: Sandy Springs, Georgia may look like any other town in America. It has parks, roads, and beautiful places to live. But there’s one thing that separates this town from every other town:...
View ArticleAuckland Council assets
The Herald reports on a report which values various assets owned by Auckland Council, and how much they could get for them. Rather than borrow billions of dollars, they could free up capital from...
View ArticlePartial privatisations a huge success
Stuff reports: The Government may be getting more in dividends from its 51 per cent holding in three major power companies than when it owned the companies outright, a new report claims. This is no...
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