'News-by-fiction' is the term Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton is giving to a report in the Dominion today claiming, "Senior Labour ministers kept Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton in the dark about plans to raid state-owned enterprises for cash."

"The reason I haven't been briefed about plans to extract $180 million from SOEs is that the Government has NOT decided to extract capital from SOEs.

"The suggestion that the Government could make a decision to force $180 million out of its SOEs without any discussion at Cabinet committees or at Cabinet is preposterous.

"The Government made it very clear in the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update that it would consider reviewing the capital structure of SOEs to ensure it is adequate to meet their commercial needs. I wouldn't expect Cabinet to look at that review before there are firm proposals to consider."

Jim Anderton says the Dominion has again been caught out by failing to challenge the inventions of the Opposition.

"The Dominion needs to re-learn that just because the Opposition says something, it doesn't mean it's true.

"Last week the Dominion was forced to apologise on its front page to a Cabinet Minister. It is still printing fiction."

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