By: Larry Williams | Monday, March 05, 2012

Newstalk ZB's Larry Williams looks at asset sales, David Bain, immigration, the port dispute and the weekend of sport in today's memo.

Asset sales

The first of the Government's assets to be partially sold is Mighty River Power.

It will go on the market around the third quarter of this year.

Minister for State Owned Enterprises Tony Ryall is introducing the necessary legislation to Parliament this afternoon.

The legislation will require the Crown to hold at least 51 percent of the voting shareholding and restricts other shareholders from holding more than 10 percent of the voting rights.

The Maori concern appears to have been dealt with.

The Crown's obligation to the Treaty will remain under a new clause. The private equity stake will not and could not be subject to Maori settlements.

The 10 percent cap deals to the foreign ownership conspiracy but we already knew about that.

I suspect that whatever the Government comes up with won't change much.

The public are still uneasy about the partial sales of the SOEs.

The David Bain interview 

David Bain's first interview was aired last night.

It looked to me to be stage managed. In other words the interview was conditional on a pre-approved question line.

But that aside, what I found interesting was the following comment. "Dad helped us with our education, with our upbringing again, with university studies, and helped us become the people we are."

He said he had a lot of love and respect for his father Robin, who David Bain's defence counsel claimed must have killed his family, and struggled to come to terms with them accusing Robin of the murders.

But the evidence was clear that Robin was responsible, David said.

The interesting thing here is that David's aunt testified in court that David hated his father. Hated! This is far from what David said last night. Hate and love are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Do we conclude then that 'aunty' was mistaken? You be the judge.

Immigration 

Poor migrants who speak little or no English are to be subject to stricter immigration laws under a review that will create a "two-tier" system to favour the wealthy, a leaked Cabinet paper shows. This is a shock and awe piece in the Herald today.

Immigration categories are to be changed in an effort to "reduce the number of unskilled migrants who find it difficult to get jobs and are more likely to get benefit payments".

Labour's immigration spokeswoman, Darien Fenton, said the proposed changes showed National's true values - that "money is all that matters".

First this is a discussion paper. It suggests that we only really need migrants who are self sufficient.

Labour might be happy to bring in unskilled migrants who go on welfare but most rationale folk will think its crazy.

This policy looks pretty much like the now stock standard requirement around the world.

Migrants with wealth, skills and education get priority over migrants who have none of those credentials and end up costing the hard working taxpayers of this county.

You don't import costs.

The policy makes sense. Labour's response is irrational.

Ports 

Wellington's CentrePort is hoping to hear from the Employment Court today after filing for an injunction against workers refusing to unload a container ship docked there.

Workers have been picketing at the port since Friday in solidarity with their colleagues at the Ports of Auckland.

They're refusing to unload the Maersk Aberdeen which was packed by non-union employees in Auckland.

The court will likely deal to the Wellington workers and tell them to pull their heads in. That would be an appropriate outcome.

Meanwhile, the union has brought in the Americans to bolster their case. This is naive and silly. They don't have a case.

What this all says is that the sooner they get the unions off the ports the better.

Their actions clearly show the need for change. Even the left wing members of council are turning against the union. What does that tell wharfies then?

Sport

The Black Caps got hammered by South Africa. There looks to be a huge gap between the two sides. The tests will prove to be very difficult for the Black Caps. A test win would be a miracle.

The Highlanders v Crusaders game in that wonderful stadium in Dunedin was a great clash. The Highlanders could be right up there come finals time.

The Chiefs demolished the Blues. The Blues were pitiful. The Blues already look like they're gone.

The Warriors had chances against the Manly Sea Eagles, the current NRL champions, but they bombed opportunities. The Warriors don't play percentages very well. There's a lot of potential with the Warriors. They need to nail teams when they have the chance.