Queen Bee has this afternoon fielded two calls from very good sources, outraged at information that the Government might be planning next week to announce the decision to decline the Canadian offer to purchase 40% of the shares in Auckland International Airport. These callers were also amazed that the mainstream media were not giving more scrutiny to this issue and placing it in its wider strategic context. We can only agree.
Let us recap. A year or so back Investment New Zealand (a sub-set of NZTE) hosts a delegation from Dubai which gets taken to Auckland International Airport to see a potential investment target. This group express interest in making an investment. Phil Goff steps in and says "no way".
More recently a Canadian Pension Fund begins sniffing around Auckland International Airport. The Government announced policy in three areas which some have interpreted as attempts to reduce the attractiveness of the Canadian offer - increased regulation of the NZ airports (share price drops), announced an end to stapled securities (share price drops), and most recently announced a change to the OIO regulation (share price drops). But the Canadians don't flinch and press on regardless. They bend over backwards to try and make the deal acceptable. What more could the New Zealand Government want?
If it is true that the Government is about to say no, what signal is this sending to the rest of the world?
And why is the Government rushing to make this decision next week? Surely not because the PM is out of town and wanting to avoid taint from the controversy that will inevitably unfold (which ever way the Government decides to go)?
And is it not hypocrisy of the highest order that the PM will, on her way back from her two trips to London and her participation in the NATO summit on Afghanistan, be in China to witness the signing of the most important trade agreement since CER, an agreement which is encouraging freer trade in goods and some services, and increased investment flows between China and New Zealand, within days of potentially having sent a very clear message to the world that your investment isn't welcome?
And what about thee 25,000 or so ordinary Kiwis who stand to receive $1.8 billion if this sale proceeds - $1.8 billion that will provide liquidity to our financial markets at just the right time???
These are huge issues which should be across every front page.
So come on mainstream media do your thing. And fellow bloggers - don't hold back. Our future prosperity is at stake.
