Commerce Minister and National Party high-flyer Simon Power fuelled further speculation about his post-Parliament career yesterday when he gave up his state-owned enterprise portfolio in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Power, who last month said he would retire from politics at the next election for a career in
the private sector, said dropping the SOE portfolio was his "only option".
"The stuff I'm interested in, the chances are that it could end up in the orbit of the SOE portfolio. I've always taken this conflict issue extremely seriously and I don't want to get into a situation where any perceived or real conflict of interest may exist."
Prime Minister John Key said Power had made a big contribution in his role as SOE minister, "including work on the development of the Government's proposed mixed ownership model".
Key's Government says it will proceed with plans to partly privatise state-owned energy companies if it wins this year's election.
Power said he has had no job offers and hasn't considered taking up a role with an SOE.
When he announced his plan to retire from Parliament, Power told the Herald: "There's a fair bit in my head about how the financial markets work and how the supervisory role works, what makes an SOE work and what doesn't ... so I think I've got a bit of intellectual capital."
He said he would seek a role where he could participate in substantial changes to existing structures.
"I'm more in the category of let's turn this thing upside down and see what falls out. Let's challenge the fundamental basis on which the justice system or the financial markets work and lets see if we can rebuild it ... I want to run something as a part of applying that skill set."
Health Minister Tony Ryall has picked up Power's SOE portfolio.
