Mallard on Agenda
Agenda was a good watch today. Jim Bolger was in great form as he told off the interview for trying to trick him, and proclaiming he is far too experience to fall into those traps. It brought back fond memories.
But the main guest was Trevor Mallard, and Trevor said some interesting things:
TREVOR Well I’m happy to have floats as long as it’s non core assets. I mean we’re not gonna float for example the wind farms of Meridian.
My God, imagine if a National MP was saying this. It would be “Privatisation Alert, Privatisation Alert”.
I am glad to see Trevor say it is okay to float non core assets. Could someone ask him for a list.
GUYON What you’re telling me is that you want to sell the subsidiaries but you haven’t been able to.
TREVOR I’m happy for things which are not part of the core to be partially floated, at the moment there’s none of those that are big enough to be interesting, but what I’m not prepared to do is to have the state owned assets either sold and leased back the way John Key has been looking at or prepared for sale the way he indicated that he would use first three years in government.
Trevor gets marks for always trying to score a point, and invent a policy for National. The important thing to note again is he says it is fine to sell non core assets.
GUYON Okay, can I look at the appointments to SOE boards. You’ve recently, well not you personally, but Diane Yates has recently been appointed, the former Labour MP to the board of the SOE Learning Media, I mean isn’t this just another example of political cronyism and you’re not getting the best people on these boards you’re getting your old mates appointed to the boards of SOEs.
TREVOR Well I think if you have a really good look and analyse who I have appointed to SOE boards you’ve got one of the classic ones coming on your programme soon, we’ve gone for the talented people, the people who can do the jobs, and if you look very carefully at the chairs of the SOE boards…
This is very interesting. Trevor is ignoring the fact four of his colleagues have gives Yates a Board job, and is just stressing that he personally has not, and he appoints talent only.
This is a very clever way to get across the point he had nothing to do with her appointments and that he does not think she is talented. Otherwise he would have defended her appointments on the basis of the skills she would bring to those boards.
July 13th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I repeat again. ALL political appointees (and by that I mean from ambassadors down to the likes of someone like me as a Ministerial appointee to a quasi-judical body) should be required to submit their resignations proforma anytime there is a change of Government who can then decide whether or not to accept them.
The reality is that most will be allowed to serve out their terms but in cases such as Yates, where she was clearly ‘brought off’, the resignation should be accepted.
July 13th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
the ‘glottal one’..
heh..!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
July 13th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Interesting that Mallard referred to the example of Meridian IPOing its windfarms. Informed gossip in investment banking circles is that Meridian have been trying very hard to get approval to do just that.
July 13th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Interesting that under Mallard’s idea that it’s okay to float off subsidiaries that aren’t core, the only real candidate I can think of is Kiwibank.
Stop the presses. Labour are going to privatise Kiwibank! You heard it here first! Where’s the trolls, they should know about this dastardly plan and get moving quickly to stop it.
July 13th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
If National cannot “float” SOEs to raise new capital or whatever and win the argument against Labour – then get out of politics. I am sick and tired of National Party politicians timidly putting an idea forward and hastely backing off like cowards when the Labour attack machine gets into gear. Attack back and win the argument. Socialism is dead, win that argument if you can.
July 13th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Maybe if National invented some policies, Mallard wouldn’t have to.
July 13th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Interesting he mentioned Meridian. SOmeone from his office was recently (and surprisingly quietly) appointed to their board. She was a senior education adviser. No energy experience as far as I know and very little governance apart from also being on the metservice board. Apparantly that is considered enough experience to get you onto NZ’s largest power generator.
July 13th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
DPF, in your assumption re Trevor’s opinion of Yates’s “abilities” you are, I suspect, spot on.
I know Trevor’s not flavour of the month at present. He has some tendencies which a leader with some sense of propriety would have deftly kept in check. Instead they were exploited – and his future sacrificed, I feel – by someone on record as being prepared to act unconscionably if it means keeping power.
I’ve dealt with him as an MP and as a Minister and found him enormously hard working, quite knowledgeable about his portfolio, able to apply a degree of skepticism to his Ministry’s advice, and genuinely keen to arrive at a positive outcome. To see someone who exhibits none of these attributes getting undeserved golden handshakes from his colleagues must truly gall.
July 13th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
“…My God, imagine if a National MP was saying this. It would be “Privatisation Alert, Privatisation Alert”…”
Thats because no one trusts Slippery John with the family silver.
July 13th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
tarnished family silver after the gypo’s in labour have been using it to dish out baked hedgehog to their non-working pals.
July 13th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
She must be pretty hopeless if she’s only worth 80k. If Mallard had kicked her she might have got $170k.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:25 am
” Jim Bolger was in great form as he told off the interview for trying to trick him, and proclaiming he is far too experience to fall into those traps. It brought back fond memories.”
Yes, and Bolger also had some far more interesting things to say, which in your post are interestingly conspicuous by their absence.
i.e. (i’e paraphrasing here as I can’t find the transcript for the interview)
“A report by Australia’s transport industry stakeholders has projected that petrol could be as much as NZ $10 per litre within the next 10 years, so we will need to begin to use fuel much more efficiently in order for our economy to function optimally. Part of that is insuring that we have a functioning nation-wide rail network”.
So Bolger was saying that the government buy-back of the rail-network was a very good idea.
If this doesn’t make you right wingers sit up an pay attention to the reality of peak oil nothing will hey?