S.O.E. sale talks with party

Press, 8 November 1988, Page 6

S.O.E. sale talks with party

The Government’s decision to sell the New Zealand Shipping Corporation would be discussed with the Labour Party, said the newly appointed Minister for State-Owned Enterprises, Mr Rodger, at his first press conference yesterday.

Asked whether the Government was obliged to discuss with the party decisions which had already been made, such as the

sale of the Shipping Corporation, Mr Rodger said, “I think that is an area for some debate. “But the fact of the matter is that there will be some discussions held with Labour Party people on this particular matter.”

Mr Rodger reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to meeting the $2 billion asset sales programme for this financial year.

Without being directly critical of Mr Prebble, Mr Rodger said the Government would attempt to give a "clear signal to the broader commercial community about the procedures which are going to be adopted.”

“I think there have sometimes been some confused signals issued by the Government,” he said. Mr Rodger would not speculate on the final shape of the assets sale

procedure, the issue which led to Mr Prebble’s sacking as S.O.E. Minister last Friday, but he expected it to be resolved in the next few days. He had received no adverse signals from the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, about his new role. He intends to move into Mr Prebble’s suite, next door to Mr Douglas’s, he said. Although not disappointed to be taking on

the S.O.E. role, it was not one which he had sought, in part because of its workload. “It is not a portfolio that one would go out canvassing for,” he said. “One only has to have regard to what happened to my predecessor to think about that.” Mr Prebble would brief him over the next few days on the current state of the asset sales programme, Mr Rodger said.