Submission on asset sales

For the attention of the committee, I would like to enter a submission on the planned partial sale of State Owned assets. I would like to say NO to these sales on the following grounds.
1 - The means of electricity production are vital strategic assets in a demand economy. Because of the reliance on electricity to power production it is absolutely essential that supplies are guaranteed and at a reasonable, responsible price.
2 - The returns from the power companies is higher than the interest on borrowing. To sell your highest returning asset to reduce short-term debt is bad economic planning.
3 - Alternatives such as borrowing from the Reserve Bank & selling the power co's to the Super Fund have not been considered. Both of these alternatives would be better for the NZ economy in the long run.
4 - Spikes in power prices further reduces our standing in the OECD on essential to life statistics such as avg house temp, illnesses due to poverty, and infant mortality. Evidence shows that privatisation always leads to prices rises.
5 - The power companies have always claimed that part of the price we currently pay for power is to fund future upgrades and repairs, 'Paying it forward' if you will. If the companies are sold that money will disappear.
6 - National's election win has been claimed to be a 'referendum' on asset sales. This is patently untrue. For this to be the case, National is basically admitting to being a one-policy party. As we know this to be untrue, we can assume that people voted for National for other reasons as well. Based on this, and the fact that National got less than 50% of the total vote at an election with the lowest voter turnout ever, Key's insistence on a mandate cannot be believed. As The assets are owned by the people of NZ, a seperate referendum must at least be considered.
7 - National's referednum claim also must be discounted when you consider that what National said it would ensure what happened when the assets were sold. They promised they would be madxe available to 'mom & pop' investors. However the legislation does not state anywhere that these small local investors will get any preferential treatment regarding the shares IPO. This is a significant change in the stated terms, enough to null the result of the 'referendum'.
8 - Selling these strategic assets would put New Zealand in a very precarious global position. Money could be simply sucked out of our economy at will, simply by price fixing in the power markets. The threat of million dollar fines is nothing in a market worth tens of billions of dollars. New Zealand would be better served buying power companies overseas with the Super Fund. Retaining the means to make cheap(ish) energy puts us in a much more stable playing field.

I believe these are all good reasons to not go ahead with the partial sell-off of strategic assets. It is economic treason which we do not deserve.