Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Key wise to play it cautious

By Andrew Austin
Editor·Hawkes Bay Today·
3 Sep, 2012 09:09 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The announcement by Prime Minister John Key yesterday that the Government will delay the partial sale of Mighty River Power until next year came as a bit of a surprise.

There was fairly general consensus earlier yesterday that Mr Key would probably forge ahead with his plan to sell shares in state assets, starting with Mighty River Power. However, it seems as if he has hesitated because of opposition from Maori.

Mr Key went into the last election adamant that an asset sale programme was part of the Government's plan. When he won the election quite comfortably, he claimed that this gave him the mandate for the partial sale of assets.

At each step of the process, Mr Key and his Government have shown a determination to forge ahead with the process but the public mood seems to be shifting on this one. In the beginning, the feeling was that while there may be some people opposed to the sale, it would not deter Mr Key.

However, there has been a groundswell of opposition recently and last week's call by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Government to halt the partial sale of Mighty River Power increased the pressure even more. The tribunal said the partial privatisation would affect its ability to make redress to Maori rights in water.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It called for an urgent hui to find solutions to questions on how Maori rights over fresh water are recognised.

The tribunal issued its report on claims brought by the council and 10 hapu and iwi, which sought to delay the Government's partial asset sale programme until Maori claims over water were considered.

At first Mr Key said the tribunal's decision would not stop him - but a week is a long time in politics.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Obviously his political ally, the Maori Party, has put pressure on him to delay the sale and he has probably received Crown legal advice that there could be more pitfalls ahead. He has made the right decision and will use the time to consult more with Maori.

One can't help thinking that Mr Key may have painted himself into a corner on this one. He may find himself consulting more people than he originally thought he would have to. This is good for democracy but not necessarily good for Mr Key's plan to sell state assets.

Already his political foes, Labour and the Greens, are demanding that Mr Key consult all New Zealanders by holding a referendum on the subject. The Green Party is in the Keep Our Assets coalition, which has collected 240,000 signatures as it strives to get the 310,000 needed to trigger a citizens' initiated referendum.

The coalition launched a drive aiming to collect the remaining signatures by the end of next month. Mr Key would not have to listen to the referendum result but it would put even more pressure on him.

It is going to be an interesting few months for Mr Key.

Suddenly it does not seem like it is all smooth sailing for the National Government.

Our populist Prime Minister is probably aware of how much he has to lose if he gets this one wrong.

Only time will tell.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.


Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner
Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

Court of Appeal upholds jail term of three years and two months.

14 Jul 05:00 AM
Premium
Premium
'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

14 Jul 04:29 AM
Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue
Hawkes Bay Today

Hastings drinking water and waste water upgrades continue

13 Jul 10:13 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search