by frog
- Selling off shares in our publicly owned energy companies, even though the loss in dividends to the Government will be greater than the interest payments on the debt that will be retired from the sale proceeds.
- Opening ACC’s work account to private insurers, even though an independent report by Price Waterhouse Coopers shows there will be no public benefit.
- Building roads that have a negative benefit to cost ratio, while Auckland’s passenger rail network grinds to gridlock.
Is it the case that John Key’s government is so ideologically inspired, evidence averse or economically illiterate that policies like these get past the Cabinet table with little scrutiny? Or are there more sinister forces at play?
Yesterday, Idiot/Savant at No Right Turn set out the case for greater transparency on lobbying. And the Greens were the only party he gave a tick. Here’s what the Greens would do:
- Ensure lobbyists keep a public register of all clients utilising their services, whether for a charge or pro bono.
- Model the registration system on the Canadian Registry of Lobbyists and ensure that the information is available online.
- Ensure that such a registry contains, but is not limited to, detailed information about lobbyists and their activities including:
- Lobbyist’s name
- Client name
- Institution being lobbied
- Subject matter and particulars of the lobbying
- Lobbying methods used
- Government funding received by the client or employer
- An indication whether a lobbyist was a former public office holder as well as details about offices held
- For in-house lobbyists, the name of the corporation or organization, and the names of lobbyists employed there
- Information on oral and arranged communications with certain public office holders
Curiously, no other party appears to be interested. Lobbying of public office holders has a major impact on the democratic process and lobbyists should be required to be transparent about their role.
Update 13 June 2011: The Greens now have a Bill to address this issue. Russel Norman and Sue Kedgley launched it this morning. A copy [PDF] is available here.
Published in Featured | Justice & Democracy by frog on Fri, June 10th, 2011
Tags: ACC privatisation, asset sales, corruption, lobbying, privatisation, roading
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
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I/S, Metiria is keen and some preliminary work has been done, but it is still a work in progress. Given the number of Member’s Days stolen by Government urgency and the filibuster to try to stop Heather Roy’s Students Association Destruction bill progressing, work on Member’s Bills hasn’t been a high priority lately.
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frog says “•Selling off shares in our publicly owned energy companies, even though the loss in dividends to the Government will be greater than the interest payments on the debt that will be retired from the sale proceeds.”
Which is misleading.
Follow frogs link, and at the very bottom you will see some grand totals for teh income from the SOEs.
Total 2010 net profit: $405m
Total 2010 dividends: $732m
Total equity value: $9.5b
The SOEs paid nearly twice in dividends, than they actually made in profit.
If you’re going to judge the financial feasibility of whether or not it’s worth selling SOEs, you need to base it on what they actually earn – not on a completely unsustainable year when they pay nearly twice what they actually made.
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Personally, I doubt that lobbyists have a massive role in New Zealand politics – a bigger influence is the polls.
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@ john-ston 6:51 PM
With between 66% and 80% of people polled opposing state asset sales (depending on which poll you look at), how do you justify that conclusion?
Some other factor must be in the play because, despite photonz1′s misdirection above, it is economic lunacy to sell something that returns greater dividends than the savings in interest achieved by retiring debt from the sale proceeds.
I hate to have to say it, because New Zealand has a great reputation as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, but I fear corruption may have a part to play in policies like this.
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As one Indian friend said the corruption and cronyism here is equally as bad as India. We just hide it better.
You cannot say it is not corrupt when a Government which purports to represent New Zealander’s is busy selling us and our assets out for their own individual gain.
National is intent on delivering our assets and a compliant, cheap and cowed workforce to their cronies.
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Easy, the support for the National Party has hardly dropped – they are still polling above the 50% mark. If the policy really were unpopular, then National should have nosedived in the polls. It is the same reason why Labour never backed down on Civil Unions, even though at the time, polls suggested that a majority of the population were not in favour of them.
Firstly, your other factor at play could be a third thing such as ideology. Secondly, you are forgetting the other benefits that partial privatisation would provide – for instance, these entities would get greater fiscal discipline (notice how Contact Energy compares with the three state owned power companies with critical financial indicators) and that would result in higher dividends.
I don’t think so, the policies are based on political ideology – and that is not corruption.
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You poor thing Frog,
What say we give you half a million – long as you say nothing
about fakery or truth
xx
Taxpayers anon
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Speaking of lobbyists, look who turns up today advocating higher prescription charges.
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5099703/The-rise-and-rise-of-lobbyists
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toad says “Some other factor must be in the play because, despite photonz1′s misdirection above, it is economic lunacy to sell something that returns greater dividends than the savings in interest achieved by retiring debt from the sale proceeds.”
But as you don’t know the sale price, you don’t have the slightest idea of whether it’s financially better to pay off debt or keep the assetts.
And how long do you think SOEs can keep paying a dividend that is 80%(+$327m) MORE than they actually make. Does the word “unsustainable” ring any bells?
There are a lot of advantages in a partial privatisation, but few advantages in full ownership.
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Kerry’s comment about “corruption and cronyism here is equally as bad as India. We just hide it better” is quite possibly true. One only has to look at:
– Taito Phillip Feild’s conviction for bribery/corruption,
– Phil Goff’s ongoing refusal to sell the appartment he has been claiming on for over a year now despite saying he would,
– Daljit Singh’s elctoral registration rigging,
– Labour’s exhorting of members to (ab)use Parlimentry Services for electioneering.
– Winston Peters and the Scampi affair,
– ex-Alliance MPs being done for theft
– ex-National MPs being done for theft
– ex-Labour MPs being done for theft.
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I’m usually not a fan of regulation/registers/beuracracy, but some UV on on the bacteria would be a good thing.
One issue is that it effectively legitimises lobbying, when MPs should be working for their electroates and not being swated by presurre groups.
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I’m currently squatting in a corner with a pointy hat on my head. It’s my penance for advising on this thread last Friday that the Green bill to bring transparency to lobbying was still a work in progress. I didn’t bother to check, and if I had done could have advised that the drafting had been completed and the bill was ready to launch.
Russel Norman and Sue Kedgley launched the bill this morning. A copy [PDF] is available here.
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Support from an unlikely source (the first and very possibly the last time I link to Whaleoil)!
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Labour have now agreed in principle to support the Bill. Although it is bit weird that they say they are going to ask the Greens for a copy of it when it has been on our website for all to see for two days now.
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