Fran O'Sullivan takes on the nay sayers on the Vector bid. Kedgley and Woolerton should be dumped by their parties. They have become real liabilities.
Those coming up with some of the far-fetched allegations, such as Green MP Sue Kedgley and New Zealand First MP Doug Woolerton, have, it seems, failed to do their homework before bursting into opposition.
Kedgley claims the new owner will ratchet up Wellington power prices to pay for its purchase.
New Zealand-based Vector arguably did that - but was slapped down by the Commerce Commission. Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie notes the regulators will continue to exert strong pricing controls after the acquisition.
He will not directly say which other companies were in the bidding. But he says Cheung Kong came up with the cleanest deal.
Woolerton has speculated that selling the network to Li Ka-shing's company will clear the way for Chinese workers to come here under the China free trade agreement. That is frank ignorance.
If Woolerton had bothered to check with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade he would have found that the Chinese FTA applies to China's custom territories - not Hong Kong.
There is no way Cheung Kong could cite the China FTA as an avenue to bring its own workers here.
Even if China's State Grid had won the bidding war it is inconceivable that it would have been able to import mainland Chinese to take New Zealanders' jobs. The sector is not stipulated under the skilled labour provisions in the FTA.
