I controlled $20b worth of our assets, says Prebble

Richard Prebble

Former MP and Cabinet minister Richard Prebble has completed his latest book - Out of the Red.

Mr Prebble said on his website the book would be available in book shops in November, though he is currently selling copies directly to interested readers.

In one excerpt he describes becoming the Minister for State Owned Enterprises in the David Lange Labour Government.

"That spring morning I walked into the Prime Minister's office still fairly green," Mr Prebble wrote.

"I walked out the biggest businessman in New Zealand history - as chief executive of $20 billion worth of business (in today's terms about one hundred billion).

"I was in charge of the country's air, road and rail systems, it's national post office and phone company, half the country's forests, all the Landcorp farms, an insurance company, a bank, a computer company, all the nation's electricity generation and the national grid, air traffic control, a property company and a printing works."

Mr Prebble, 58, also comments on the late Mr Lange's distaste for Cabinet meetings. "David often left Cabinet, caucus and other meetings. He had a low boredom threshold, and found conflict distressing. He also used to slip out for a fag."

Mr Prebble highlighted one particular Cabinet meeting the former PM disappeared from.

"So when he slipped out we were not at first concerned. It was Michael Basset who noticed the Prime Minister wasn't there. We tried to work out his last contribution and calculated he had been gone for more than 40 minutes. We realised David Lange was not coming back."

When he lost his seat with Labour, Mr Prebble joined the Act Party and led it into Parliament in 1996. He retired as an MP in 2002.

- NZPA