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David Cunliffe, Labour finance spokesman



 Ngai Tahu, Superfund  wanted to buy South Canterbury finance...







The New Zealand Superfund and Ngai Tahu were part of a consortium of investors whose bid for South Canterbury Finance was rejected last month, says opposition finance spokesman David Cunliffe.



Details of the bidders were revealed by Mr Cunliffe in Parliament today as he alleged government mismanagement of the failed finance company that he said may cost the taxpayer more than $300 million.



Mr Cunliffe told the House an offer for $1.3 billion was made on August 31 by a consortium led by Permanent Investments. That offer was rejected by the receivers. Another offer again led by Permanent but also including the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Ngai Tahu was made on September 13 and also rejected.



Permanent Investments is a company asssociated with Sydney-based businessman Duncan Saville. Its directors include Dugald Morrison, the brother of Wellington businessman and Saville associate Lloyd Morrison, who in turn has interests in companies that manage millions of NZ Super Fund cash.



Permanent was indentified by the Herald as a bidder for South Canterbury's assets after South Canterbury chief executive Sandy Maier was seen on a plane reading a sale and purchase agreement for his company the day it went into receivership.



Mr Cunliffe said based on South Canterbury's book value of $1.8 billion, the taxpayer would have incurred a loss of about $500 million had the first offer been accepted.



He also said with the Government indicating it anticipated an eventual loss of $800 million on South Canterbury, it had effectively left $300 million on the table by rejecting the offer. Mr Cunliffe later said there was a risk the value of the company's assets may deteriorate further, deepening the taxpayers' loss.



Responding to Mr Cunliffe, Finance Minister Bill English said he didn't want to comment on commercial details of bids or transactions that may still be under negotiation and he referred to an earlier statement that at no point was there any offer on the table "that did not involve considerable risk and cost to the Crown".



South Canterbury Finance went into receivership at the end of August triggering a $1.7 Government payout to investors. including $1.6 billion under the Crown's Retail Deposit Guarantee.



Treasury is to publish documents relating to the guarantee and South Canterbury Finance this week.


Acknowledgements: Adam Bennett

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Plea for a blogger to be arrested. Just the blogger...

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Plea for blogger to be arrested. Just the blogger?



A Wellington lawyer wants a blogger who has breached the name suppression of his client to be arrested for being in contempt.



A Wellington lawyer is calling for an Auckland blogger to be arrested after intentionally breaking name suppression.



The blogger has published the name of a high-profile Wellingtonian currently on trial for assault on a teenager, relating to an incident in central Wellington in August 2008.



The man's lawyer Mike Antunovic has raised his concern about the publication in the Wellington District Court. He asked the judge to consider issuing a warrant for the arrest of the blogger for being in contempt of court.



Meanwhile the wife of the high-profile Wellingtonian has given evidence at his trial. The Crown claims the accused hit the teenager after he had run away and stolen money.



The man's wife has told a jury at the Wellington District Court he had to manhandle and drag the teenager back to the car. She says the events leading up to the incident had been stressful and upsetting.



The trial is expected to continue into next week.


So its alright to beat up drag back, and detain an alleged thief in your car? I thought assault was assault was assault? Is this how things are done in the wonderful new world of John Key and his Nationl administration. Thank Christ I don't have too many years to live in this bullshit world. If somebody steals from you use your cell phone and call the police you bloody dickhead.


Good on the blogger in question for naming names!








Acknowledgements: © 2010 NZCity, NewsTalkZB

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Foreshore and Seabed attitudes hardening. Really?...

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Foreshore and Seabed attitudes hardening.  Really?


"Hone Harawira, Maori Party MP, says proposed customary rights which are determined by Crown are hardly what Maori want.



Maori attitudes towards the Government's foreshore and seabed proposals may be hardening if feedback given to Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is anything to go by.



The major elements of proposals being discussed include vesting the zone as a public domain and allowing Maori to go through the courts to establish customary title.



Last month Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples spoke positively about how customary title could work for and potentially be accepted by, iwi.



"If they get customary title basically, they've got the run of the roost over all decision of occupations and control over the beach."



However, MP Hone Harawira, says Maori he has spoken to makes it clear that Maori want property title resolved in the final legislation.



"As long as those customary rights can be determined by the Crown and extinguished by the Crown, then they are hardly the customary rights that Maori want anywhere in the country."



Consultation on the foreshore and seabed proposals is due to finish at the end of this month."



KR's Opinion:





The question that should be asked is: Which Maori attitudes are hardening?  Nobody should own land below the high water mark. The majority of Maori live away from their home maraes and wouldn't be regularly involved in their affairs. It is the Maori Party, which has a minority of the total Maori vote, that is pushing the Foreshore and Seabed Act change. Maori do not have the legal right to ownership of the F&S. Maori are not indigenous to New Zealand; they are the first immigrants to this country. Maori are entitled to continued customary usage and perhaps a role as guardian and caretaker of the lands therein. Non-Maori are also legally entitled to access to the beaches and coasts that they have enjoyed since 1840 as well.

It is the State not the so-called Crown,  that should own and mange the Foreshore and Seabed. The public domain is a legally wishy washy sort of title for the land below the high water mark in my opinion.







Acknowledgements: © 2010 NZCity, NewsTalkZB