Weldon blasts SOE boards

State-owned enterprise boards populated by ex-politicians spend too much money sponsoring high-culture events aimed at Wellington elites, according to NZX chief Mark Weldon.

The SOEs sponsored glamorous openings of ballet and opera while having operations based in communities with little overlap with such high-culture events, Weldon said in a speech to SOE directors.

Their "commercial" sponsorship decisions involved customer-free events in Wellington with powerful policy mandarins and politicians. They should exit these sponsorships and redirect their spending to regional communities.

"Symbolic acts such as this would send strong cultural signals right throughout the organisation in a manner out of proportion to their monetary level."

The poor performance of SOEs was a drag on national growth, Weldon said.