Exemption will allow ministers to talk about share float
Without this, parliamentary question time – which can often seem to make time slow to a crawl anyway – would have become interminable.
Parliamentary question time could have got a lot longer this year because of financial market regulations.
The government has just got an exemption from disclosure rules around the listing of securities for its mixed ownership model and the float of up to 49% of four state-owned energy companies.
Had it not done so, parliamentary question time – which can often seem to make time slow to a crawl anyway – would have become interminable.
Government ministers come under the disclosure rules, as shareholding ministers.
With the share float a major political dividing line, opposition MPs are regularly questioning ministers about the policy.
The trouble is, under the rules as they stand, every answer from ministers would have to be following by a lengthy disclosure statement.
"The length of the statement is going to grow as the year goes on," State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall says.
The exemption – which Mr Ryall says is along the lines of those granted by the Financial Markets Authority to Fonterra – allows ministers to keep discussing the businesses without running foul of securities law.
The government plans to float the first tranche of shares, in Mighty River Power, in the third quarter of this year.
A new website has been launched by the government to provide information about the share float for first-time investors.
Rob Hosking
Fri, 04 May 2012
Fri, 04 May 2012
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Exemption will allow ministers to talk about share float
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