Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:309. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
2. 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his statement made with regard to the revenue from asset sales “I don’t know the exact number that they have in their books today”? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 I stand by the full statement I made in November 2011 when asked what value Treasury had put on the mixed-ownership assets. The exact quote was: “I don’t know the exact number that they have in their books today. But I know the estimations they gave to us—if we release 49 percent in the equity markets there’s five to seven billion.” 
David Shearer 
: Did he state when announcing these asset sales 1 year ago that $10 billion would be realised and if he does not stand by that figure how does he justify this much lower figure? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: In terms of the latter part that is the best estimates we have and—as I said yesterday—in the end obviously it will be what the market is prepared to pay and it will depend how much of the 49 percent we sell. But the best estimates we have at the moment would be in the order of about $6 billion maybe a little more. 
David Shearer 
: Did he state that the figure could be up to $10 billion? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Probably and it could be; you never know. 
David Shearer 
: In light of his description of the Solid Energy account as “ropy” is it his opinion that some of the other State-owned enterprises up for sale are also significantly overvalued in the audited accounts; and if so which ones? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The leader’s own member has been making that point—that there is quite a range of valuations which was as Clayton Cosgrove said a commercial value for Solid Energy of $3.5 billion an updated board valuation of $2.8 billion and a Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit valuation of $1.7 billion. As I have said on numerous occasions there is a variety of reasons why companies have different valuations and they depend on whether they look at net asset value book value or equity value. In the end the value that actually matters is the one that the market will pay and in our view it is in the order of about $5 billion to $7 billion. 
David Shearer 
: Is there a bottom line below which he would not sell our profitable assets; and if so what is that bottom line? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The bottom line is that it has got to be the right thing for New Zealand and it is. 
David Shearer 
: How much less will the Crown receive as a result of the uncertainty around the Treaty clause? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well that would depend on the consultation process and what the final Treaty clause looks like. In my view we will find our way through an elegant solution which will mean that private sector shareholders will be happy about the outcome.  
David Shearer 
: What is his elegant solution for dealing with the Treaty clause? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: It is one that makes it clear to Maori that the Crown is bound by the Treaty but the specific obligations around consultation of sale would not be the case for a private sector shareholder. What I can say is that what we do in the end will be clear—just like when the Labour Party was proud of itself it was clear because those members came to the House with boxes with the name “Labour” all over them and now they have ripped the name off.