24 January 2014

National’s mismanagement sees asset sales cost balloon to $440m

National has cost taxpayers over $440m so far with its asset sales policy, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said today.

The Crown Financial Statements to the end of November 2013, released today, show that the sale of Meridian and Air New Zealand added hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the asset sales programme. When the cost of those sales is combined with the cost of the Mighty River Power sale and ancillary costs such as the Rio Tinto payout, the total cost of the asset sales now stands at $440m.

“John Key has mishandled the asset sales so badly that it has cost taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars,” said Dr Norman.

“National told us they would make hundreds of millions of dollars by selling the assets for more than their book value. Instead, they’ve lost over $200m by hocking the assets off cheaply.

“On top of that, there’s been the hand-out to Rio Tinto, Waitangi claim costs, and tens of millions of dollars to the brokers, ad-men, and lawyers.

“A decent government would be spending its time and money on creating well-paying, sustainable jobs for New Zealanders. National’s wasted its time and the public’s money on an asset sales agenda that New Zealanders didn’t want.

“New Zealanders voted by a margin of more than 2 to 1 against National’s asset sales in the referendum held in December. It’s time National listened and abandoned the sale of Genesis,” said Dr Norman.

Additional information:
Costwatch – tracking the cost of asset sales

ENDS

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