Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:677;Page:657] 
3. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: Does he believe it is his responsibility if it is his intention to sell strategic assets to obtain the best possible price; if not why not? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 If the member is referring to the Government’s proposed sale of a minority share in State-owned enterprises then it is our responsibility to get the best price subject to the Government’s intentions for those sales which include that the Government will retain at least a 51 percent ownership and that Kiwi investors will be at the front of the queue with an expectation that 85 to 90 percent of the companies will remain in New Zealand hands and no one will be able to own more than 10 percent of the shares. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Well does he now stand by his comment of 16 February on State assets’ values that—to quote him—“It’s just a guess.”? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: As has been explained for the purposes of putting some numbers in the Budget Policy Statement Treasury chose a midpoint in the range of $5 billion to $7 billion which is about as much certainty as we can provide at this time. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: If that is the case why is the Minister of Finance ignoring the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit’s report on these assets all of which are up for sale where it has an assessment of $7.6 billion at 49 percent way above his $5 billion to $7 billion? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: There are a couple of different valuations that are available. One is the boards’ valuations and the other is independent commercial valuation. I think the difference in the numbers that the member is looking at is that the board of Solid Energy has a considerably higher valuation for Solid Energy than the independent commercial valuation. Apart from that they are fairly similar and of course those valuation issues would need to be resolved before the Crown sold any shares. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Rt Hon Winston Peters. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Is this the member that wanted to sell Kiwibank? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Sell what? 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Kiwibank. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am very happy to oblige by your ruling but if Mr Smith here who is famous for giving— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! Look there will be silence from elsewhere in the House and the right honourable gentleman will resume his seat. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I do not want that sort of carry-on. Unlike in previous Parliaments it is now possible for members to interject while questions are being asked. It is unwise though if they do not wish those interjections to be picked up on and it is unhelpful to the order of the House. I would appreciate the member though just asking his question; he does not need to respond to some of those unnecessary interjections. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Given the value of Mighty River Power is in the order of $3.8 billion will the Minister of Finance undertake to this House that if National sells Mighty River Power it will do so for the expert-assessed value not at a discount price its mates can afford? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: If the member means by “our mates” Kiwi mums and dads the 2 million New Zealanders who are in KiwiSaver then of course we want to make sure that they get reasonable value out of a share sale—because they are who will mostly be buying them. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Minister of Finance understand that the so-called mates called Kiwi mums and dads already own those assets; or is he plainly in la-la land on this issue given that Treasury his department has advised him that within 10 years they will be in foreign ownership? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: That has not been the advice from Treasury. And in respect of the evaluation the member is raising a reasonable question and that is that at some point closer to the sale of these shares the Crown will need to come to a view about what value it expects would be a fair value for the shares. We are not at that point yet but it is likely to be somewhere around in the case of Mighty River Power what he is suggesting. There are other views that it might be worth quite a bit more than the current book value because of low interest rates around the world. We have yet to see. 
Rt Hon John Key 
: Has he seen any reports dated 2008 of a political party wanting to have the mixed-ownership model applying to Kiwibank; if so which political party was it? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The very obvious response to that inappropriate question is that that Minister— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member will resume his seat right now. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! Just because a member in the House does not like a question being asked—the question is in order. It relates to strategic assets and the sale of strategic assets. The right honourable Prime Minister asked whether the Minister had received certain reports. The Hon Bill English is to answer it. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: If I was not sure which political party it was when the Prime Minister asked that question I am now. I think it was New Zealand First that advocated the mixed-ownership model for Kiwibank in the 2008 election. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is patently obvious that he has received— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member will resume his seat immediately. If the member does that again he will be leaving the House because that is not a point of order. Points of order relate to the proceedings of this House not to whether that member happens to like or dislike an answer or anything said in this House. That does not provide grounds for a point of order to be raised and the business of this House interrupted. I am deadly serious. The member will cease that abuse of that point of order process. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: It had better be a different point of order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: There have been countless rulings that say that the Minister is not responsible for another party’s statements or policies— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member is now starting to dispute my ruling and if he is not careful he will be leaving the House.