Ryall Tony: State-Owned Enterprises Amendment Bill Public Finance (Mixed Ownership Model) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ryall Tony: State-Owned Enterprises Amendment Bill Public Finance (Mixed Ownership Model) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 26 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3286. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister for State Owned Enterprises) 
: 
 I move  
That the State-Owned Enterprises Amendment Bill and the Public Finance (Mixed Ownership Model) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. These bills are part of the Government’s wider plan to control debt and to keep investing in our economy. [ 
Interruption 
] They are part of a wider plan to control debt and keep investing in the New Zealand economy. 
There are some people who think that the global financial crisis is over. They do not understand the relentlessly worsening international financial situation. There are more and more countries confronting the problems of debt. Greece Spain Portugal the United Kingdom Italy—countries that are fast running out of choices because they refused to control debt and get their public finances in order. Their situations are precarious. The ability of these countries to continue investing in growing and protecting their economies is significantly at risk. But New Zealand wants to take action to ensure that we can continue to invest in our country’s growth and prosperity and at the same time control our debt. 
This Government has carefully planned its spending and borrowing through the financial crisis and the Christchurch earthquake. Through good financial management over the next few years our country will return to surplus and we will keep our debt under control. When we inherited this economy after the 9 years of absent management by the party opposite our country owed $8 billion. Through protecting our country from the sharp edges of the recession we now owe $52 billion and in 3 years’ time we expect to owe $72 billion. New Zealand must control its debt. The mixed-ownership model is about freeing up some of our capital tied up in a minority of these companies and using that money to control debt by allowing us to continue to invest in schools roads and hospitals—important infrastructure in New Zealand. That is what this legislation allows us to do—to control our debt and continue to invest in important things like our schools our hospitals and our roads. This legislation enables the sale of a minority of these companies to the value of between $5 billion and $7 billion which will give us cash up front in an uncertain world when we would have otherwise had to borrow from foreign lenders. 
Over the time of this debate—this debate that has not happened through urgency; this debate that has involved the public—this Government has made it absolutely clear that we are not going to be diverted by the scaremongering and nonsense of the three-headed party opposite. Fact: this Government will maintain majority New Zealand control of these companies through its legislated 51 percent shareholding with a 10 percent cap on any other shareholder. Contrast that with the experience when that party was in power in the 1980s and sold $10 billion of assets to the highest bidder 100 percent without getting a mandate from an election—without getting a mandate from an election. This Government expects that 85 percent to 90 percent of these companies at float will be owned by New Zealanders. The Government will make sure that it gives effect to this policy through its ability to control the allocation and will ensure that everyday New Zealanders who want an opportunity to participate in these businesses will have that opportunity. It will ensure that superannuation funds KiwiSaver and other New Zealand institutions where New Zealanders save for their retirements also have an opportunity to get shares. This policy helps control debt. Our critics have exaggerated the numbers. They have been very selective but it is very clear in the Budget documents—simple and clear—that the estimated impact of the mixed-ownership programme is a $6 billion reduction in our net debt. 
 In their desperate attempts to discredit that for which this Government has a mandate we have had this latest claim that this policy will drive up electricity prices. Remember question time last Thursday when the Opposition said that all the information shows that the State-owned electricity companies are cheaper than private companies? Well what we know is that a more comprehensive analysis shows that there is no difference and that what really matters is the level of competition not the ownership. Our Government in our first term set about fixing the competition issues and making sure that the regulations were right such that in a 6 or 7-month period 425000 New Zealanders have changed power companies. In 14 of the 21 power regions the private companies are the cheapest. That is what happens with competition. New Zealanders get more choice and they are getting more competition and that is what we want to see. 
The other nonsense we have heard from the party opposite is that this is a rushed process. Are we doing this through urgency? When that party opposite was in Government and sold assets it put everything through under urgency. Did we invite the public to make submissions? Did the Prime Minister announce this policy in January 2011? Did we have an election on this issue? Was it the centrepiece of Labour’s election campaign and did Labour get the lowest vote it has ever got? This was what the entire election campaign was about. From Labour’s perspective every dollar that it cobbled together went on campaigning on this issue—and the Greens’ dollars—and Labour got the lowest vote it has ever had and National got the highest vote that any single party has ever got under an MMP election. 
 We do have a mandate. We do have the support of New Zealanders for our wider economic package to control debt and get this economy on the tracks that we need to have future prosperity. And that is what this is about. Unless we control our debt and free up money that we can continue investing in our schools and our hospitals and our roads then New Zealand is at risk. We are at risk of being seen by the international lenders as on a par with other countries that are losing control of their destiny. So this Government has a mandate from the people of New Zealand—no doubt about that. 
This Government has a focus on protecting majority New Zealand control through a 51 percent legislative guarantee in the law passed in this legislation with a 10 percent cap on any one shareholder. That money the future stream of dividends that we are making available to the minority shareholders will be captured up front in the price that we get for the shares. And that money will be put into the Future Investment Fund and that money will be available for investing in schools roads and hospitals. So this is what works for New Zealand. We control debt and at the same time we protect grow and invest in our economy and that is what New Zealanders would want us to do. 
Over the next few weeks we are going to continue to hear a whole lot of nonsense from our opponents. These are our opponents who when they sold public assets did it without a legislative mandate did it to the highest bidder and never gave everyday New Zealanders a look-in—never gave everyday New Zealanders a look-in. That is not what this Government will do. This is about giving everyday New Zealanders a chance to own shares in these businesses whether directly or through their superannuation funds or their KiwiSaver or their other Crown financial institutions. This Government wants to be absolutely clear with New Zealanders. This is part of a wider plan to make sure that we protect and grow our economy in these difficult times. When you do not have a Government with that sort of commitment you end up seeing what New Zealanders are seeing on their television news 6 o’clock bulletin after 6 o’clock bulletin. Countries that do not control their debt and do not invest in the future begin to lose control of their destiny. This Government will not put our country in that position.