A series of hui are to be held around the country to brief Maori on the float of minority shareholdings in four state owned enterprises.
Finance Minister Bill English and State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall will lead the process, to be held next month, which will canvas legislative changes the government considered necessary for the float of Genesis Energy, Meridian Energy, Mighty River Power and Solid Energy.
"We promised to talk with iwi when we originally announced plans to partially sell the four energy companies and Air New Zealand last year,” Mr English said.
“We want to understand Maori views before we take final decisions.”
Mr Ryall said the consultation would not cover specific investment opportunities, but iwi investment on a commercial basis would be welcomed.
"The government has promised all New Zealand investors they will be at the front of the queue for shares," Mr Ryall said.
The government was also seeking written submissions through a consultation document on its proposal to remove the four energy companies from the SOE Act and put them under new legislation that ensured the government retained at least 51% ownership and other individual shareholdings were limited to 10%, Mr English said.
Comments and questions14
Good place to go, if you want to see a lot of blank faces and head-scratching.
And at what cost?. I would like a briefing but I am white. Why is there not a briefing for all New Zealanders?. I do understand that some Iwi have large sums to invest and will see the SOE sales as good value, but for over 90% of those who will attend the free lunch, sorry hui, I agree with Jarrod K. The decision of Iwi investing or not, will not be done by the majority, but by those who run the business on a day to day basis.
Just more of our dual race society, i.e Maori and everyone else.
This Govt can stick it.
Why cant everybody attend
I can undretsand why the Government is holding the hui and that is only because they needed to promise to to get maori party support.
Maori Iwi and Maori incorporations do not have the money to invest in these assets in a tangible way - they are all talk and all they are after is a free carry - as always.
They talk about their issues and inequalities over the years - what they are now doing is worse. Why? because you can't whinge and whine about inequalities and then do the same the other way and end up with any credibility - hypocrites thats all they are
Bludgers extrordinaire.
Apartheid rules ...only reason half that lot will be attending is to see if they can grab some more freebies.
This is one of those very rare times when I feel sorry for the politicians. Imagine having to go through this pantomime knowing that every word you say may be seized on, twisted and exploited by the Maori grievance industry and their state-funded lawyers.
I may be going soft but I felt sorry for Julia Gillard when a casual, bland and inoffensive comment by Tony Abbott gave a couple of dozen malcontents an excuse to launch a native uprising yesterday.
I agree with the doctor
Maori would only be able to invest into a very small percentage of these state assets - that is if they are intending investing their settlement cash and not demand more assets - just because there are more now available.
The Hui are a waste of public money and a waste of the politicians time
The brokers should give them an allocation and see if they stump up with the cash
i bet they don't
Remember youre not allowed to do anything in this country unless its subject to some sort of nonsense Maori scrutiny,because don't forget it's "our" fault they're in the current socioeconomic position and so therefor have a right to get special treatment by God.
If Maori were credible they would create a joint investment company and offer all Iwi and Maori incorporations the chance to subscribe. This would then allow them to bid for a decent share of one of the Government SOE's on the block - say 25% of Mighty River .
They won't because they won't be able to agree amongst each other - in fact they probably couldn't even agree who should be on the board of the investment company - they fight so much. they can't even trust each other so how can they trust investment partners.
Time for somenew Maori leadership - the current Iwi leadership is old, worn out and bereft of commercial acumen and ideas.
Here's a scenario - If they play their cards right, Maori may invest up to $1b in AirNZ & the Power Companies, keeping the ownership and job focus local. Attract more invest and there are the jobs so greatly needed. To me it is a problem of perception - some are too nationalistic to sell farms to the Chinese and maybe too racist to see these SOE's sold to Maori. And too disorganised and over-ego'd to do it themselves. Oh well, must be easier to talk from the sidelines...
What I would like to know is, when are the Maori Tribal businesses going to pay their fair share of tax? When is the Charitable Trust Commission going to say" No."? Ngai Tahu with about 30 businesses with Charitable Trust status. I am finding so many hard working Kiwis do not know about what is going on in the Tax area. I am sure PAYE taxpayers both Pakeha and Maori would welcome some tax excemption so they too could offer their families an excellent education etc.
Maori have no right to special treatment above other new zealanders. Race based political parties and parlamentary seats should be abolished.
Ha thats where you are wrong, Maori have a unique place here in New Zealand, the seats wont be going anywhere, Maori will be consulted with government, Maori voice will be heard. Thats what happens when your tangata whenua... Call it what you like, Maori have fought too long to let this go, so my advice would be to suck it up.
If you call be on the wrong side of every satistic "a unique place" then you have it. Time to get out out bed and start contributing and then you might get some respect.
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