Henare Tau: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Tau: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 10 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17169. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.Hon TAU HENARE (National)to the Minister of Finance: What progress is the Government making with its share offer programme to free up capital to invest in new public assets without having to borrow more from overseas lenders?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):The Government is making very good progress. Last month the Government confirmed that Genesis Energy shares had been priced at $1.55 in the share offer book build which was the first stage of the offer. The general offer opened on 29 March and closes tomorrow. The total proceeds from the share offer will be up to $726 million with $620 million already committed through the book build so we will hand $726 million of share certificates to investors and they will hand us $726 million in cash. That means that the Government will raise $4.7 billion on behalf of taxpayers from the four share offers. That means we will be able to use that money to build hospitals build schools maintain KiwiRail and roll out ultra-fast broadband without having to go and borrow from the Opposition’s obvious friends the overseas bankers.Hon Tau Henare: What percentage of Genesis Energy shares is expected to be held by New Zealanders after the share offer is completed?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Right at the start of the programme the Government set a target of 85 percent New Zealand ownership. I know that many people were sceptical at that time that 85 percent New Zealand ownership could be achieved. In the case of Genesis Energy it is expected that around 88 percent of Genesis Energy will be owned by New Zealanders at the completion of the share offer so Kiwi investors have been at the front of the queue for shares. What that demonstrates is that New Zealanders are quite capable of making their own decisions without having to rely on the Government about investing their savings in large successful New Zealand companies. Quite why anyone would want to take that opportunity away from them is hard to understand.Hon Tau Henare: How many of the objectives that the Government set for the Genesis Energy share offer and the wider share offer programme have been met?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Despite the best efforts of the Opposition and the Māori Council we have achieved all of the objectives that we set. I am pleased to report that the four objectives were 51 percent Government ownership which has been achieved; New Zealanders at the front of the queue which has been achieved; companies that provide good opportunities for investors which has been achieved; and the freed-up capital being spent on new public assets which has certainly been achieved. The Government is satisfied that industry-specific regulation continues to protect New Zealand consumers who in the long run are the ultimate beneficiaries of this programme.Hon David Parker: And what about the money? Has his objective regarding how much he was going to raise been achieved; if not what is the difference? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I particularly want to hear the answer.Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes. We set the—[Interruption] Well a far-sighted Government back in 2011 set a range of $5 billion to $7 billion in a programme that included Solid Energy. Solid Energy has dropped out and so with one less company we almost got to $5 billion—$4.7 billion. But I can assure the Opposition that that is enough money to buy some things and build some public assets in election year.Hon Tau Henare: What new public assets will the Government buy using proceeds from the share offer programme?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well it is a very very long list but I will limit myself to just a few. The Government has so far allocated just $2 billion of the $4.7 billion. This includes $426 million for redeveloping the Christchurch hospitals one of the largest single public construction projects for a long time; $50 million to speed up the School Network Upgrade Project so our children can have access to the best technology; $94 million for the fourth year of KiwiRail’s Turnaround Plan; and a substantial contribution to building the new schools in Christchurch.