Wellington Electricity Network should be in NZ ownership

20 August 2019

Chris Leitch, Leader

 

Social Credit is calling for the Wellington electricity network to be returned to New Zealand ownership.

It is sheer madness for the electricity supply of critical infrastructure such as the New Zealand Parliament, Wellington Airport, all major government institutions including the Police and Security Intelligence Service, andnetwork security-sensitive customers such as Datacom and the Department of Corrections to be in the hands of an overseas owner.

The same applies to power for the critical infrastructure of the region's local authorities including water, waste water, street lights, the transport network, the port, hospitals, the telephone network and the head offices of the country’s banks and major businesses.

Only yesterday Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie pointed to major issues relating to energy security and cyber security that need to be addressed.

Among those major issues is the ownership of Wellington's electricity network, which, despite claiming on its website that it is a local company, is wholly owned by C&K Infrastructure Holdings, a Chinese conglomerate registered in the Cayman Islands and part of the stable of China’s richest man Li Ka-Shing.

This is especially critical given the international issues developing between China and the United States.

Should those escalate in the future New Zealand's decision-making heart could be disabled by a flick of the switch.

Both National and Labour governments since 1984 have made an artform out of smoothing the way for the sale of New Zealand's land, most productive companies, and critical infrastructure to overseas owners.

That ‘smoothing of the way’ has been recognised by large donations to the political campaigns of both parties.

A compulsory re-purchase could be made without breaching the provisions of either the China Free Trade Agreement or others such as the Trans Pacific Partnership, which provide for security issues to be addressed.