Say who?
Hell hath no fury like Winston Peters in fact-checking mode, which he was in on Monday on political journalist Andrea Vance’s new book, Blue Blood, which mostly traverses the sudden resignation of John Key as prime minister in December 2016.
Unwisely, perhaps, Vance also included a discussion of coalition negotiations between National and NZ First, causing Peters to see red.
Claiming “thank heavens” for keeping meticulous records of events – a characteristic less observable in the current court proceedings involving who knew what about the funding of the party – Peters triumphantly declared that Vance had it all wrong in more ways than one.
In particular, it was “absurd” to say he’d asked to become deputy prime minister late in the talks with Jacinda Ardern in 2017. Dammit, he’d asked on day one!
And as for saying unkind things about negotiations with Steven Joyce, Peters was quite clear that the party had dealt exclusively with a previously unsung figure of NZ backroom politics, a “Wayne Eggleston,” Peters claimed.
We’d have thought it would have made more sense to use Wayne Eagleson, Key’s long-serving chief of staff, who had long experience of Peters-wrangling. However, this Eggleston fellow apparently got the nod.
We wanted to check with Eagleson, but he was in Banff with Wellington PR impresario Mark Unsworth and government-of-all-stripes fix-it man Brian Roche.
The revolution will not be telephoned
Nobody was particularly keen to chat to BusinessDesk in the aftermath of NZ Automotive Investment’s mass board resignation.
Thirty phone calls made to various parties involved yielded little more than various shades of ‘no comment’.
Text messages were more fruitful, with interim board chair Charles Bolt at least confirming the resignations were in reaction to David Sena’s plan to oust the board.
Market watchdogs were more willing to comment. The NZ Shareholders Association was quick to call and express concern about how independent the nominated directors will be.
NZ RegCo took less than an hour to respond to questions. The regulator said it had spoken with the company, which is likely to breach listing rules when the director's notice period ends on August 20.
On the Money notes that Bolt is a member of the NZX’s disciplinary tribunal and is no doubt very familiar with the rules and regulations.
One of those rules is that a board must have at least two independent directors, and it might be reasonable for ousted shareholder Eugene Williams to question where loyalty lies.
Will the proposed directors be beholden to all shareholders? Or to one in particular?
The trouble with this whole affair is that this is a publicly owned company in name only.
Sena and Williams collectively own more than 80% of all shares and the former is only a few percent short of a majority. It’s his company, and we’re all just looking at it.
Unbeetable
Air New Zealand’s shift to supply beetroot crackers on domestic flights has caused something of an uproar among travellers and potato fans.
The snacks, offered as “beetroot chips” are considered by many as an abomination. On the Money herself will reserve judgement until she has tasted them.
However, I did seek comment from Potatoes NZ chief executive Chris Claridge, who had himself just taken a flight, but not been introduced to the vegetable snack.
Claridge, who is unashamedly pro-potatoes (as the job requires) was surprisingly diplomatic about the move.
“We like that Air NZ supports locally grown and processed food snacks,” he said, adding, “and we enjoy innovative vegetable snacks.”
OTM’s enquiries have discovered that Lower Hutt firm Rutherford & Meyer is the maker of these products and the company has both a chickpea and a kumara version.
We await further outrage.
Winter blues
The recent bout of covid-19 seems to have infiltrated the capital city, with Zespri forced to put off its annual shindig at parliament. The kiwifruit exporter and marketer was bringing out the big guns in an event hosted by trade minister Damien O’Connor this coming Wednesday night, with prime minister Jacinda Ardern set to speak at the event, which typically draws in the country’s primary sector bigwigs.
On the Money has enjoyed the selection of sweet kiwifruit on offer several times over the years, but was already wary of the winter lurgy plaguing our urban centres, and can only ponder whether BusinessNZ’s already once-postponed Backing Business cocktail party will go ahead on Tuesday?
The other battle of the barristers
While three Meredith Connell partners are to vie for the Auckland Crown Warrant, Brian Dickey’s decision to step down from the job also sparks another contest – the battle for his new home.
Dickey has said he will move to the bar this summer, sparking interest up and down Shortland Street over where he will end up.
Will Dickey choose Bankside Chambers, the behemoth which appears not to stop growing and the current workplace of his longtime colleague David Johnstone, or will he go up the road to Shortland Chambers?
With such a long lead time before Dickey hands over to a successor, there's plenty of time for courting!
News, tips and gossip to [email protected]
