Robertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 20 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3127. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
3. 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
 on behalf of  
GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by all his statements on asset sales? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 My answer to the incoming leader is yes. 
David Shearer 
: Does he stand by his response when asked to guarantee that no more than 10 to 15 percent of shares would end up in foreign hands he said: “Yes. I spent my life starting in investment banking. I know how these things work.”; and why cannot he guarantee this level of foreign ownership in the legislation? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Yes I stand by that statement. I think it is important to understand actually when Labour was looking at hocking off subsidiary companies interestingly enough Trevor Mallard made this statement: “I hope that you can although you’ve got to realise”— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I do not think in response to that question that is quite fair. 
David Shearer 
: Has he now reconsidered this level of foreign ownership that he spoke about given Treasury advice that “significant participation by foreign investors will be essential to achieve the Government’s overall objectives”? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No because that advice was based on the sorts of issues that we were debating with the co-leader of the Greens which was that Treasury’s advice would be to maximise the price but the Government has made clear that it is going to put New Zealanders at the front of the queue. I am confident as a result of that basis that 85 to 90 percent of the shares will be owned by New Zealanders. 
David Shearer 
: Given the uncertainty in the global market has Treasury revised its sale figure; if not how bad would global markets have to get before he decided it was not a good time to sell? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well firstly no I am not aware of any revision that it has had. Nor would it probably be in any position to do that because it would need to assess the capital markets at the time that the particular companies were being brought to the exchange. I would make the same point that I made again to Russel Norman yesterday that if you have a look at the state of the financial markets around the world in fact growth has been anaemic or very weak and in many countries in recession. That has not actually stopped very successful floats over the last 4 years. 
David Shearer 
: Has he seen any Ministry of Economic Development figures that show private power prices are on a weighted average basis 13 percent higher than State-owned enterprises; and how long will it take State-owned enterprises after he sells them to increase their prices to those levels? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly we would reject that proposition. Secondly we would like to remind the Leader of the Opposition that under Labour power prices went up 72 percent; under National they have gone up 14 percent. I also refer the member to the Powerswitch website which shows a couple of things. Firstly of the 21 companies that are listed the 14 cheapest are actually privately held companies and the 15th is a council-owned company. The advice I have had is that from May 2011 to April 2012 422256 customers have changed electricity retailers which shows that under a National Government there has been a great desire to see choice and efficiency in the market.