Minister denies ‘less accountability’ charge

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 27

Minister denies ‘less accountability’ charge

PA Wellington The Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, today denied statements that Cabinet Ministers would have less accountability for State trading activities to be corporatised. Accountability to Parliament and the taxpayer would, for the first time, have real force, he said. Managers will have greater freedom and boards of directors will be set up to set the enterprises on a track of increased profitability. “Some people have looked at these decisions and drawn the conclusion that Ministers will now have less control over S.O.Es (State-owned enterprises) and less accountability,” he said. “This conclusion, I believe, is quite wrong,” he told the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce. Mr Douglas said there was now a lack of good information on how State trading organisations were performing. The Forest Service, for example, had not been able to produce a profit-and-loss account and bal-ance-sheet for its commercial production, forestry. The only information was the cash accounting data all Government de-

partments produced. Many State-trading groups could not give an accurate valuation of their assets. “How can any Minister

stand up in the House and defend the performance of the organisation to Parliament and the wider public without this basic information?” he said.