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The government is denying
they are rushing the partial sale of AirNZ
before the start of a referendum on asset sales.
But opposition parties say
it's only going to end up in private ownership overseas.
Political reporter Irena Smith has more.
An asset for Kiwis,
helping the government to raise money.
If these assets were sold today
then I'd say most would be snapped up come tomorrow
by rich private investors from overseas.
The government is selling 20% of its shares in AirNZ,
but opposition parties say
it makes a joke of the referendum on asset sales
which starts on Friday.
They probably don't want to put it off much longer
because I'd say most NZers are against the government in this.
But the government denies this.
This isn't the first government to sell NZ assets.
Labour has also done this in the past.
It was another time.
When those assets were sold off
they were around the Roger Douglas era.
The EPMU is concerned the sell down
will add more pressure on Air NZ
to return higher dividends,
which may come from cuts to workers' wages and conditions.
The share offer is expected to take a couple of days,
but the referendum will last three weeks where registered voters
will have an opportunity to say how they feel about asset sales.
Irena Smith, Te Karere.