Going off half-cocked has already caused this Government a few problems and they seem to have done it again with the loyalty programme for asset sales. Needing to show they were front-footing the issue, John Key made the announcement of the loyalty scheme. It worked - for a day. The problem is there was actually nothing much new to say and, crucially, the basic details and costs are still unknown. John Hartevelt writes 'It suggests a rather casual, if not rushed, attempt at a newsy "announcement" for the National Party faithful at the weekend. It all feels a bit half-baked - "we think a loyalty scheme will work, but we don't really know why and we can't tell you exactly what it will look like" - see: Details vacuum befuddles both Key and his rivals. Hartevelt thinks the lack of detail actually had Labour and the Greens struggling as well.
It gave the Opposition an opening, however, to speculate and then draw outrageous conclusions. Suddenly the Prime Minister was back on the defensive having to hose down claims of billion dollar plus price tags. Rather than countering with facts he had do his own speculating, which opened up further avenues for attack. Playing down the cost of the scheme, by definition, meant minimising the level of 'mum and dad' investors who would hold on to their shares for three years - a figure the Government had been trying to build up previously. Green co-Leader Russell Norman also forced a concession from the PM that the scheme may require additional parliamentary approval to proceed - see Vernon Small's Sales bonus share retreat amid speculation. NZ First has come up with it's own angle pointing out the bonus would be paid even if the investor left the country - see Newswire's Kiwis could leave and still get share bonus.
Shifting the debate away from the rights and wrongs of privatisation onto the actual sales process is a victory for Government in itself says John Armstrong: 'The argument is turning away from one of principle - whether minority shareholdings should be sold in the three state-owned electricity generators - to one of practicalities and the mechanics of how they should be sold' - see: Too many unknowns to judge asset share float.
The scheme is sensible according to The Press editorial (Asset sales) but the Herald thinks the share sales should stand in the market on their own merits and 'Sadly, it is a case of political timidity trumping market nous' - see: Sweetener to shares leaves a sour taste.
Other important or interesting political items today include:
