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Ruth Richardson: former Finance Minister criticises NZ First proposal to buy back BNZ · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: the only drive show you can trust to ask the question,
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  Speaker 1: Zealand and the Power of Satellite Mobile News Talks ed B.
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  Speaker 2: Afternoon. Winston Peter's proposal to buy back the B and
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  Speaker 2: Z has certainly divided opinion. Our text machine is loving it,
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  Speaker 2: but commentators in the National Party are not. Nichola Willis
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  Speaker 2: has called it extremely reckless. Claire Matthews from Massy University's
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  Speaker 2: Business School says Winston's dreaming, and Brad Olson says the
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  Speaker 2: announcement was headline grabbing. The former finance minister and current
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  Speaker 2: chair of the Taxpayers Union, Ruth Richardson is with us.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Ruth, Well, Hi, I'm very pleased to talk to
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  Speaker 3: you on this subject.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that you would love this, do you.
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  Speaker 3: Well? It's vintage Winston because when it comes to economic matters,
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  Speaker 3: he's typically angry, he's simplistic, and he's wrong. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: he's harbored decades of hate for the B and Z.
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  Speaker 3: It's fair to say he's probably got a B and
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  Speaker 3: Z obsession. Now he reaches for a policy that's reminiscent
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  Speaker 3: of a Soviet era. You know, he's going to nationalize.
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  Speaker 3: His plan is to nationalize the bank. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 3: found to end in tears. We came close to bankruptcy
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  Speaker 3: on the back of the B and z's poor management
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  Speaker 3: when I was in charge, and now Winston's ruinous policy
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  Speaker 3: threatens to do the same again.
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  Speaker 2: What is your primary problem with the buyback of the
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  Speaker 2: B and Z. Is it the fact that we would
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  Speaker 2: have to take on enormous debt when we can't or
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  Speaker 2: is it the fact that we haven't got a good
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  Speaker 2: history of ourselves as a country running the BZ.
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  Speaker 3: Well both a. We don't have the means to do it.
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  Speaker 3: But there are two reasons in addition to that. First,
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  Speaker 3: it is a policy that is inherently bankrupt itself. The
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  Speaker 3: idea that the crown could run a bank which has
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  Speaker 3: got great risk is not borne out by the evidence.
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  Speaker 3: But the second thing that worries me most is the
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  Speaker 3: blow to our reputation. I mean, it makes New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: look like a tin pot country where populist politicians feel
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  Speaker 3: free to nationalize private businesses, And yeah, I kind of say,
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  Speaker 3: well why stop at banks? I mean supermarkets will worth
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  Speaker 3: foreign owned and the sector could do with more competition
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  Speaker 3: or energy contact, energy land national investors.
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  Speaker 2: But you're running through his policy manifesto right. He's planning
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  Speaker 2: to break up the supermarkets. He is planning to renationalize
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  Speaker 2: a couple of the gent tailors, if not all of them.
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  Speaker 3: As I say, he's sort of got a fixation with
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  Speaker 3: Soviet style policies, and as we found with the B
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  Speaker 3: and Z and there's the Soviets found they failed policies
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  Speaker 3: and they're bound to end in teers.
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  Speaker 2: What do you what do you think would happen if
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  Speaker 2: Winston actually went through with all of his policies in
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  Speaker 2: the manifesto. And there's no history that he would need
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  Speaker 2: like he doesn't do it, so he's probably not gonna
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  Speaker 2: But if he broke up a supermarket chain, if he
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  Speaker 2: renationalized some gen taylors, if he brought back bn Z,
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  Speaker 2: what would that do? Do you think to offshore investors regard.
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  Speaker 3: For New Zealand, I think they run a mile and
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  Speaker 3: those that are lending to us would exact a ruinous
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  Speaker 3: level of interest rates to pay for the privilege of
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  Speaker 3: using their money in a country that was completely mismanaged.
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  Speaker 3: It's a real irony, isn't it. You know his is
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  Speaker 3: unsound on economics as he is sound in foreign policy.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I wish he'd be sound in both, but
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  Speaker 3: he's not.
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  Speaker 2: Ruth, Thank you very much, appreciate it. Ruth Richardson, former
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  Speaker 2: Finance Minister.
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