With just hours to go until the Government's bill to sell state-owned assets passes, Prime Minister John Key admits the public does not know much about the plan - and Labour believes that is the Government's intention.
The Mixed-Ownership Model Bill will have its final reading in Parliament today, and is expected to pass by 61 votes to 60.
It enables the Government to sell up to 49 percent of four state-owned energy companies - starting with Mighty River Power within the next few months - and reduce its stake in Air New Zealand.
Mr Key maintains that the government has a mandate to sell the shares because of its election win - despite overwhelming public opposition to the sales in a range of polls.
However, he admits the public has a "very low level of understanding" of the plan.
"One survey that I saw, 81 percent of New Zealanders couldn't name that Mighty River Power is actually the first company that we'll be taking to the market, 90 percent of those New Zealanders hadn't owned shares before, a significant portion didn't really know what was going on ...
"So there's not necessarily a high level of understanding even though these debates have been well-rehearsed," he said.
Labour leader David Shearer says those polls results are unsurprising.
"I think they've intended to keep this as cloudy as possible," he said.
"The fact that (the public) don't know very much about these companies is not surprising - I would imagine the Government does not want to advertise the fact that these are our best-performing assets ... and they are likely to be snapped up by overseas buyers who are looking for a real bargain."
Labour and the Greens are working to gather enough signatures to force a citizens-initiated referendum on the issue, although Mr Shearer says it's unlikely a referendum would take place until late next year.
NZN