ACT Supports Partial Float Of Mighty River Power
Press Release by ACT Leader John Banks
Monday, March 4 2013

ACT supports the Government’s announcement that it will proceed with the partial float of Mighty River Power,” says ACT Leader John Banks.

“Partial privatisation will benefit taxpayers by placing more commercial disciplines on Mighty River and lowers risk of 100% ownership on taxpayers,” Mr Banks said.

"The fact that the taxpayer must put $350million into Solid Energy shows the risks of 100 per cent Crown ownership.

“However, partial privatisation is not ideal. It does not remove the conflict between the Crown’s ownership interests and its regulatory interests.

“It does not stop governments from regulating to screw the scrum in favour of its own commercial interests. And it exposes taxpayers to the new risk that some future government will be outsmarted by the private shareholders at a time of policy change or crisis.

“For all these reasons, partial privatisation is an unsatisfactory. Governments have neither the incentive nor the skills to run commercial activities efficiently.

“Full privatisation is the best remedy for these problems, and ACT is the only party in Parliament with the courage to say so,” Mr Banks said.

ENDS

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