Kiwiblog

Vernon Small writes:

I am as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.

Ok, that might be going a bit far.

I admit I’m not one to get especially outraged by political spin – or to be surprised that an election campaign will bring out the worst lies, half-truths and statistics.

But with just three days to go, here are the top five things I am sick of hearing from politicians, press releases or “loyal” supporters.

1) National will sell Kiwibank

No it won’t. Certainly not in the next three years – quite the reverse. in fact if it has any intention of winning in 2014 it would be nuts to even try, and frankly it is a bit soon to be fighting the 2014 campaign.

This is Labour’s latest lie. This is despite John Key saying National will never sell Kiwibank while he is Prime Minister. Labour can’t win on the truth.

The other four things Vernon is sick of hearing is:

• The after-tax wage gap with Australia has closed
  
• The number of people leaving for Australia is/was better/worse under Labour/National
• There is a $16 billion hole in Labour’s fiscal plans
• Labour will only borrow an extra $4b
• Winston Peters’ voters are dying out

I’m pleased to see that Vernon’s estimate of extra debt under Labour is close to mine. I make it $12b and Vernon says “about $10-12b”.

Of course that is just Labour’s extra debt. You have to add on the billions to appears Greens, NZ First and Mana also.

The Herald supports a float of Kiwibank:

The Prime Minister has indicated that any part-sale of the bank would be a public float aimed chiefly at mum-and-dad investors, not a trade sale, and that the Government would want to retain a majority shareholding.

As such, he is extolling the idea of a shareholding democracy, a concept that has flourished in Britain and Australia but which enjoyed a regrettably brief currency here.

Floats of the likes of Vector, Contact Energy and Auckland International Airport proved, however, to be hugely popular with Mr Key’s target shareholders, who recognised the opportunity for steady incomes and long-term returns from such utilities. …

The bank’s success means it needs substantial amounts of capital to grow further.

A cash-strapped Government would be an unwilling source. Nor would it be likely to be able to orchestrate a trade sale because potential buyers have their eyes fixed on the burgeoning Asian market.

Indeed, the Government might even see a rationale for keeping Kiwibank in New Zealand hands, if only to provide consumers with choice in a market dominated by Australian-owned competitors.

Everything, therefore, points to a float. The Government should not hesitate to confirm as much in the most unambiguous of terms. And to state that, finally, the country will have the chance to fully embrace the benefits of a shareholding democracy.

Hear hear.

The Press tuts tuts Fergie:

A British tabloid newspaper reporter, Mazher Mahmood, had revealed a sting operation against the duchess, in which she was filmed demanding, anything but selflessly, NZ$1.074 million from an undercover reporter in return for access to the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, who is her former husband.

The cash-strapped but big-spending duchess has subsequently apologised for what she called her serious lapse in judgment. But no apology can undo the damage this affair has done to her own reputation and possibly to that of the prince.

The duchess has long been renowned for her gaffes but this scandal is far more serious. She was trying to exploit her position as the prince’s former wife and use him to gain financially.

Very tacky.

The Dom Post talks Auckland super city:

The Government’s efforts to assuage concerns about the Auckland super-city by strengthening the transparency and accountability of the organisations that will run much of the city deserve support.

Change was needed in Auckland. Local government there was a fractured mess. Planning on Auckland-wide matters such as transport continually foundered on the egos of local body politicians.

One council, and the move to council-controlled organisations, should help break the jam and start solving Auckland’s massive infrastructure problems. …

Allowing Auckland Council to require them to hold meetings in public will go some way towards that, though those who follow local body politics know that it is all too easy for even elected councils to dodge transparency by going into committee and shutting the doors on the public.

Making the CCOs subject to strategic plans set by the council means setting overall goals is the job of those who must answer directly to voters. That is what is needed in a democracy.

In a few years Aucklanders will wonder what all the fuss was about, and why id they wait so long to rationalise their local government structure.

The ODT looks at the oil spill:

The news from the Gulf of Mexico is not good, and there are lessons to be learnt in New Zealand – and, more specifically, Otago – from the oil disaster and its subsequent handling.

Foremost among these are the very real economic and environmental dangers associated with deep-sea drilling such as that which has been mooted for the Carrack/Caravel site off the coast of Dunedin. …

You have to feel sorry for Louisiana especially.

New Zealand is the only country in the OECD that has a ban on asset sales. Even socialist governments throughout Europe have sold assets where there is no need for the state to own them, or at least own 100% of them.

A welcome sign that National may go into the 2011 election with a more flexible policy is reported by the NZ Herald:

The National Government has given its strongest indication yet that it will sell state-owned assets should it get a second term.

Finance Minister Bill English yesterday singled out Kiwibank as a particularly attractive asset for buyers.

But he said the Government would not sell assets without a mandate from the public.

The public will get to decide.

Mr English, fresh from delivering the 2010 Budget, told a gathering of South Island business people yesterday that the Government might consider a change of policy “to free up capital and put product on the market for Kiwi mums and dads”.

Kiwibank was a good example of an asset that needed to be dealt with. It had reached the size where it needed either a Government guarantee or an “awful lot of capital”.

“If there’s any asset that’s regarded as risky by credit rating agencies, it’s a small, fast-growing bank,” he said.

“So one option would be to go to the market and raise capital. Keep majority Crown ownership, but raise the rest of the capital from the market.

Makes sense to me.

Labour leader Phil Goff said state-owned asset sales were “absolutely all on” if National won a second term, “and they might not even wait until then”.

Mr Goff should know all about selling assets without a mandate. However National has made it very clear they will only sell or part sell significant assets with a specific mandate.

Labour aspiring candidate for Mt Albert Glenda Fryer put out a release yesterday:

After receiving news that francisee Chander Satija was to have the Sandringham Post Office and Kiwibank closed down, Cr Fryer wrote a letter to NZ Post and met with Auckland representatives to ask them to reconsider their decision.  NZ Post undertook to do this.  NZ Post have yet to give Mr Satija their final decision. …

Concludes Councillor Fryer “ I know the franchaisee Chander Satija   has given NZ Post over 500 letters from local people saying how much they depend on the services of the post office and bank.  Many locals feel they also want to show their faces and stand behind the only bank in Sandringham to tell NZ Post they love their local services and don’t want them closed down. “

So that evil NZ Post is closing down the Sandringham Post Office and Kiwibank. Maybe Glenda should lobby some of the Directors. Perhaps a Mr Shale Chambers? It should be fairly easy for her to lobby him, as he is her husband.

Secret recordings seem to be the in thing at conferences this year. We had Mike Williams at Labour’s conference, and now Bill English at National’s. English was asked (not during a session, but over coffee it seems) about whether National would sell Kiwibank and he replied “Well eventually, not now”.

Now in one sense, his response is quite unremarkable and consistent with National policy which is not to sell any state asset in their first term of office. And it can be no surprise that as Bill voted against the establishment of Kiwibank, that he doesn’t see any long term reason for keeping Kiwibank – why should the state own a competitive trading enterprise? Why not own New World also?

Now the reality is that if National does get elected, it won’t sell Kiwibank in its first term, and if it wants to sell it in its second term it will have to get re-elected on a policy allowing it to do so. National is not going to break its policy on asset sales, if elected later this year, as they have no desire to be a one term Government.

But the politics are of course a different issue. Bill will be kicking himself for his response, as it means the focus shifts from the infrastructure announcements to Kiwibank. And there will no doubt be many patsy questions to Dr Cullen in the House tomorrow on the issue.