Parent trap
Apr 18, 2021
4 minutes
JANE CLIFTON
‘Dear Air New Zealand”, wrote Finance Minister Grant Robertson this month, followed by a few “suggestions”.
And with that, the lurking fear that the world’s governments, having had a taste of fortress economics and central command economies, would get hooked on these new Covid emergency powers got a good tickle-up in New Zealand’s political firmament.
At a careful read, Robertson wasn’t asking or telling the airline to do anything obviously uncommercial. “And,” he protested, “the Government is the majority shareholder and does get to vote at board meetings.”
To the “we never interfere with business” National Party, this is nevertheless the thin edge of a very large
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