By 3 News online staff
Prime Minister John Key says there is no way to stop New Zealanders who buy shares in the partially privatised state power companies from later selling them overseas.
“You can’t and wouldn’t want to stop them – but the question you have to ask yourself is why would they go and do that?” he says.
“The question comes down to, why would a foreigner find an investment in Mighty River Power to be far more attractive on the long run than a retail investor sitting in Karori? And there’s no logic that they would,” says Mr Key
Mr Key talked to Campbell Live following the passing by Parliament of legislation allowing the partial sale of state assets today.
The legislation passed with 61 votes to 60. National, ACT and United Future supported the bill. Labour, the Greens, NZ First, Mana and the Maori Party opposed it.
Mr Key says he is not surprised that many New Zealanders do not understand asset sales.
“For a lot of New Zealanders, they’ve never owned a share – only about 10 percent of New Zealanders have, they’re not directly involved in this in their lives.”
He says the asset sales of 20 years ago were very different to what is happening now, but would not be drawn on why there have been high levels of public opposition to the partial privatisation plans.
Mr Key argues that Air New Zealand is a good example of how the Mixed Ownership Model can work.
“They have Government control, but they also are on the market, they have continuous disclosure, they are at arm’s length from the Government, they make commercial decisions, they try and maximise their returns”, he says.
“The same can apply to Mighty River Power, Genesis, Meridian, Solid Energy.”
3 News