Minister rejects call for inquiry

Press, 28 January 1986, Page 31

Minister rejects call for inquiry

PA Wellington The Government Life Insurance Corporation had received no Government funds since the repayment of an initial establishment loan in 1873, says the Minister-in-Charge of the corporation, Mr Goff.

Rejecting Opposition calls for an inquiry into its purchase of Broadbank, Mr Goff said has said that it was essential Government Life was able to compete equally with the large, overseas-owned assurance companies. The Opposition spokesman on State corporations, Mr Don McKinnon, said yesterday that Government Life should not remain under a protective Government umbrella after the Broadbank purchase.

If the Government intended to allow the corporation to diversify and compete with the private sector, the whole of the

corporation should be privatised immediately, he said.

Mr McKinnon also said a Parliamentary select committee should be able to question the chief executive officer and chairman to find out, for example, where the funds came from for the purchase from Fletcher Challenge. The Opposition finance spokesman, Mr Bill Birch, has also called for a Parliamentary inquiry into the take-over.

Mr Goff said that under legislation governing the corporation the board was given wide powers and the responsibility to act in the interests of its policy holders.

The board did not require Ministerial consent for its investment decisions and should not be subject to ad hoc or poetically motivated interference, he said.