Polls keep showing a majority of people oppose asset sales.
Would a majority of people polled also be opposed to more debt or less capital investment?
I don’t think that question has been asked but those are the alternatives to National’s plan to sell up to 49% of the shares in a very few of the assets the state owns.
We cannot have it all. Until we return to Budget surpluses we don’t any money to spare for further investment in those assets or in other much needed capital development.
National recognises the problem, knows more debt and less investment aren’t the answer and so will follow the Air New Zealand model of mixed ownership and invest the proceeds in a Future Investment Fund.
The left is doing a very good job of drumming up opposition to this but in spite of that has not managed to dent National’s popularity.
Apropos of this, (for which I hat tip A Bee of A Certain Age) Look Up At The Sky asks:
Is anyone else puzzled by poll results that show most New Zealanders don’t want the sale of state assets, yet most New Zealanders will vote for a National government?
The answer is simple: National is not proposing a wholesale sale of assets and other things matter more than the plan to sell a minority share in a very few of many state owned companies.
Labour and the left in general have put a lot of energy into opposing what they erroneously and deliberately label asset sales because they see it as National’s weak spot. But people vote for many different reasons and consider a variety of factors including policies and personality.
Polls reflect that although many are not keen on (and possibly don’t understand) the mixed ownership model National is proposing, people still prefer the party and its leader to any of the alternatives.
There’s still 2 1/2 weeks until election day. That could change and a single issue could change it.
But so far polls show that all things considered, regardless of individual policies, more people think National will be a better leader of government than Labour and that John Key is more popular than Phil Goff.
P.S. On Nine to Noon this morning John Palmer, chair of Air New Zealand, which is partially state owned and Solid Energy which is fully state owned, discussed how access to outside investment would help the companies.
Homepaddock 
What matters to me is not who owns and runs what assets, what matters to me is my children’s future and that is not in New Zealand.
Why?
Because of braindead incompetent past Governments who have squandered New Zealand’s heritage, the latest in their line of depredations upon the productive being the absolutely bonkers ETS – a scheme that has at its core the reduction of productivity.
The stuff that really matters to people is not being addressed by any party, Labour is just plain incompetent and has no vision, while National is marginally more competent but also has no vision.
We will continue to mark time while we go down the gurgler, get Chinese to build our railway wagons and Koreans to catch our fish and Zimbabweans nurse in our hospitals, while uneducated New Zealand born boys rot on the dole and uneducated New Zealand Girls produce fatherless babies and the smart leave.
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Home paddock,
Selling shares in state assets is not the only way to reduce debt and return to Budget surpluses. Merely stating that it is doesn’t make it so.
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Andrei – while concerned about the state of the country I have a more optimistic view than yours.
Slow and steady policy changes will over time get big changes without causing the harm to the vulnerable that faster and harder action would.
Denny – there are several ways to reduce debt.
One of those is to cut spending but it would be difficult, if not impossible, to save the $5-7b expected to come from the partial floats, and invest in existing and new assets without drastic cuts to services.
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You know Ele, for the average joe it is not of earth shattering importance one way or the other if Solid Energy is State owned or a public company.
Personally i think government should not be in business, I think that is outside the scope of what Government should be doing and when they are involved in business, like mining the temptation is too great to fiddle for electoral advantage to the detriment of all.
But is not a vote changer for me or anybody I know
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