National Party needs to get some guts on Kiwibank

Press release: ACT New Zealand
April 6, 2016. 10:45am

“This odd in-house partial privatisation is just reshuffling deck chairs,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The New Zealand taxpayer will still bear all the risks of investing in a bank.

“It would have been braver and better to sell part or all of Kiwibank to private owners, following the successful mixed-ownership model applied to Mighty River Power, Meridian, and Genesis.

“The mixed-ownership model was a compromise on privatisation. The Government selling part of Kiwibank to other government entities is a compromise on a compromise.

“Because the Government has the right of first refusal to buy these assets back from ACC and the Super fund, the new owners are owners in name only. Everybody knows the new owners’ decision to sell would be politically constrained.

“Sadly we witness another episode of National campaigning from the right and governing from the left, and even then they have to get Michael Cullen to do it for them.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media