Luxon said National was yet to decide on the policy it would take to the election. <\/p>\n
However, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s not unreasonable to ask the question \u2013 should we own those assets forever unchanged? <\/p>\n
\u201cYour KiwiSaver account, Super Fund \u2013 they all cycle assets in and out. We have other governments that do it in that way as well. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are assets that you could ask, what is the purpose of the Government owning that? Are we better to liberate those funds and put them into new assets for the public of New Zealand that would be more beneficial? <\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point we\u2019re going to need to have a mature conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hipkins responded by saying that although he hadn\u2019t read Treasury\u2019s report, released on Friday, Labour wouldn\u2019t sell state assets if elected to govern.<\/p>\n
He appeared unaware Kiwibank\u2019s parent company sold Kiwi Wealth to Fisher Funds for $310 million under the previous Labour Government.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, he accused National of \u201cactively considering asset sales in this term of government\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristopher Luxon needs to be upfront with New Zealanders,\u201d Hipkins said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s on the chopping block? What are they thinking about selling? Why are they going to sell them? How much money are they going to raise from it? What are they going to spend money on?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Government has been working on writing \u201cpurpose statements\u201d for various state-owned entities to sharpen its thinking on why it owns individual entities and to ensure they perform strongly.<\/p>\n
Like Treasury, Luxon didn\u2019t detail how this work was progressing, what the outcome would be and whether purpose statements would be made public. <\/p>\n
He pointed to Landcorp Farming as a state-owned entity that could have its ownership reassessed, but stressed National was still formulating the plan it would take to the election.<\/p>\n
Luxon also didn\u2019t comment on whether National would create a \u201cformal capital recycling programme\u201d to manage its assets. <\/p>\n
Singapore\u2019s Temasek investment company is an example of a \u201cformal capital recycling programme\u201d.<\/p>\n