Goff Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Goff Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:675;Page:20971] 
5. 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his statement in relation to part-privatisation of State-owned assets that “there will be some wholesale investors from overseas who will want to buy a little bit of these shares”? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
 on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes. New Zealanders will be at the front of the queue and will have substantial capacity to invest but we expect there will be some interest from wholesale investors overseas. That will help ensure that we get good value for taxpayers’ money but the amount left for overseas investors is likely to be small. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Why did the attendees at the recent National Party conference totally disbelieve the Minister of Finance when he made that same claim? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: They did not. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: The newspaper was wrong was it? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon Phil Goff 
: What restriction if any will there be on those buying shares in State assets from onselling those shares to foreign investors? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: As I pointed out on the occasion the member is referring to the Government does not intend to bring in on-selling restrictions because if we are going to have a market we may as well have a market. But I would point out to the member that in the last 4 or 5 years there has been a trend towards greater New Zealand ownership of the New Zealand Exchange and less foreign ownership. In the case of the Port of Tauranga which is under mixed ownership New Zealand’s ownership proportion of the Port of Tauranga is growing. We believe that with the success of the Government’s policies encouraging New Zealanders to save New Zealanders will want to buy these shares and they will hold on to them. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: When there is no restriction at all on people onselling the whole 49 percent of those shares to foreign investors how can he make the claim that 85 to 90 percent of those shares will be in Kiwi hands long term; or is that just wishful thinking? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: We believe that New Zealanders will retain the shares. That is the track record of the last substantial float directly to New Zealanders. As I pointed out with New Zealanders now saving more there is a trend towards New Zealanders buying back the foreign ownership of shares. 
Amy Adams 
: What recent evidence has he seen of strong local demand for domestic assets? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: There was an example just last week. Air New Zealand which was set up as a mixed-ownership company by the previous Labour Government and has operated in that way for— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No no—rescued. Rescued when it was a private company that went broke. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Well I presume the Labour Government knew what it was doing. I presume the Labour Government knew it was setting up Air New Zealand as mixed ownership. It raised $150 million of 5-year bonds from the local market. There was obviously very strong demand. There was no need to sell through a public pool because there was such strong demand for Air New Zealand bonds. We believe there will be the same kind of strong demand for Air New Zealand shares. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Is he prepared to give an absolute guarantee that a future National Government would not sell 100 percent of the shares in any State-owned asset and would that guarantee be as reliable as the Prime Minister’s promise that “We will not be increasing GST.” and the other one that the Government share going into KiwiSaver would remain intact? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Government is doing exactly what it said it would do. Before the last election the National Opposition said that it would retain all State assets and that it would not sell any until or unless it had a mandate from the New Zealand public to do so. In this election campaign we are campaigning on the mixed-ownership model and New Zealanders will have the opportunity to vote on a very clear proposition. As part of that we have guaranteed that the Government will retain 51 percent ownership. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Does he stand by his earlier statement that dividends from the State-owned assets that will be sold or part-sold helped pay for social services such as health care and does it follow that if he is selling half of the shares in those companies then half of the dividends—which would have been the previous financial year $800 million or the last financial year $900 million—will no longer be available for that purpose? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Certainly of the $800 million that the member refers to in the last year about half of it will not be available again because it consists of the proceeds of the asset swap that was done between Meridian Energy and Genesis Energy which effectively released $500 million to the Government. Of course spending will be tight over the next 3 or 4 years because we are still trying to get hold of the rapid upsurge in spending that occurred under the last Government.