M.W.D. transformed into corporation

Press, 5 March 1988, Page 32

M.W.D. transformed into corporation

PA Wellington Legislation ti ausforming the Ministry of Works and Development into a corporation passed its final stages on Thursday. Under the State-Owned Enterprises Amendment Bill, the Works and Development Corporation will take over commercial activities of the Ministry from April 1. I However, the Opposition said the tjill opened the way to sell the new corporation, and proposed an amendment which would delay the bill’s passage six “The Petrocorp experience shows the| bill’s safeguards are not worth a ■ can of fish,” Mr Mac Lean (Nat. Tarawera) told * Parliament. | a “This process of forming an S.O.E from the Ministry is qpite clearly the first step pn the road to sale,” he said. Delaying the bill six months would (allow inclu-

sion of provisions requiring any sale to be to New Zealand interests. Delay would also let the Government declare intentions to the Ministry’s (staff. But the Associate Minister for State-Owned Enterprises, Mr Neilson, said sale was not possible, as Ministers of the Crown were the only people who could own shares in S.O.E.s. ~

“It can only be sold to another Minister of the Crown. It cannot be sold

to the private sector," he said. Opposition members displayed "a kind of schizophrenia” regarding S.O.E.s. ‘‘One minute they want privatisation, the next minute they are not quite so'sure and a minute later than that they are saying it (should be privatised but the Government is not doing it in quite the right way,” Mr Nielson said. (The amendment was lost 35 votes to 49.