English delays removing Mighty River Power from SOE Act

Tuesday 23rd October 2012 2 Comments

The government has delayed removing Mighty River Power from the State Owned Enterprises Act after the High Court granted an urgent hearing for the Maori Council's application for a judicial review of the government's plan to sell down the company.

"This doesn't affect the timing of the Mighty River Power float, which remains a priority for the government," English said in a statement.

Still, the government has opted to defer removing the power company from the schedule of companies listed in the State-Owned Enterprises Act "now that proceedings are filed and a fixture on the substantive issue has been allocated," he said.

The government is betting the courts won't find in favour of the council, which argues that Maori's rights to waterways must be considered before state assets can be sold, especially those in the SOE Act which includes reference to the Treaty of Waitangi.

The High Court has set a hearing for the week of Nov. 26 in relation to the judicial review.

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Comments from our readers

On 23 October 2012 at 7:18 pm BEEJAYM said:

GUTLESS! Time to tell the radical Maori that they have no constituency and have no constitutional basis for their claims. The "Lawyers" and others who say Maori have a case have only their own pecuniary interests at stake. Who is representing the non- Maori interests?

On 24 October 2012 at 11:01 am Bob said:

I agree.Enough is enough.Their greed is costing the country millions of dollars which could be put to better use for the benefit of everyone.