By: Larry Williams | Thursday, July 12, 2012 6:30 PM

Vodafone

Vodafone is buying TelstraClear for $840 million.

Vodafone New Zealand will acquire TelstraClear’s voice and data-based services, network infrastructure and New Zealand customer base.

This will give Vodafone a suite of both fixed and mobile products.

This should stir up the NZ market. It means some serious competition to Telecom. It will challenge Telecom's dominance. That is why Telecom's share price went down today. 

That is all good for consumers. Competition could and should lead to cheaper prices and better services. That's the upside.

The downside is that it could lead to a cosy duopoly but that is for the Commerce Commission to keep an eye on.

 

Waitangi Tribunal

Already there is evidence that the Waitangi Tribunal will side with the claimants. That is the Maori Council.

Dr Grant Phillipson is one of the six member tribunal hearing the claim to stop the SOE sales on the basis that water rights have not been clarified.

Let me be clear, I think Maori will be able to establish some form of water rights, but not ownership. Ownership is just daft.

But Dr Phillipson suggests that Solid Energy could be the first SOE IPO rather than Might River Power. So I think we can guess who he's batting for. It’s this kind of bias that is the reason the Tribunal’s recommendations are not binding.

The agenda of Maori remains the same – it’s to screw a deal on the SOEs and the water.

Tariana Turia may not like that being pointed out, but that's the way it is.

 

Guy Verdict

A survey published by Fairfax shows just one in five New Zealanders think Ewen Macdonald did not murder his brother-in-law Scott Guy.

Market research company UMR today say just 20 percent of people surveyed agreed with Ewen Macdonald being acquitted of slaying Mr Guy outside his rural Feilding home in July 2010.

Almost half of the respondents believed Macdonald was guilty.

When asked "From what you have seen, heard or feel about the case, do you think it is more likely Ewen Macdonald is guilty or not guilty?" 48 percent said guilty.

A further 20 percent said not guilty, 28 percent said they were unsure, and 4 percent of people refused to answer.

Macdonald's lawyer Greg King says “it's not informed, it's not considered and frankly, it's not rational”.

Maybe, but it’s what you call perception.

The other week defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton said Macdonald will live with the "David Bain factor" for the rest of his life.

You could say that this survey supports that.

There are valid questions over the reporting on this poll.

 

Drilling

A South Island based energy exploration company has been given the go ahead to do exploration work on Stewart Island.

The Southland District Council has granted Greymouth Petroleum land use consent to carry out petroleum exploration on the island.

The Greens are having a fit over this. They put out an inflammatory statement that says the Government was allowing mineral surveys in World Heritage Areas and it’s like butchering the country.

Actually, the truth is rather different. The Government has ruled out any mining in World Heritage Areas so forget it.

As for the Stewart Island permit, it's for an old quarry, so it's most unlikely of conservation value.

Photo: Ewen Macdonald (NZ Herald)