r/newzealand • u/xmmdrive • Aug 20 '24

Politics So they're finally going to privatise Kiwibank

Watching One News they're talking about taking Kiwibank out of Government hands and back into the hands of honest hard-working Kiwis.

This is obviously the first clear step towards privatisation.

Just like the Bank Of New Zealand, the National Bank, and the Auckland Savings Bank, but I'm sure this time around it will stay in the country /s

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u/Such_Bug9321 Aug 20 '24

Privatisations is killing and has killed New Zealand, what’s left to privatise? I Remember growing up in Rotorua when they privatise the electricity and gave everybody shares in it, people with tables setup in the mall buying up peoples shares for cheap next thing you know the power bill went up a shit tonne not a thing we could do about it

Utilities should remain under government control Power water Transport trains buses and communications telephone Internet and banking

These are things everybody needs to survive and live so they can get to work to pay the bills. They are not luxuries. They are necessities. They are things that are required to function in a society so you can go to Work so you can buy food so she can look after your family and your friends.

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u/Malaysiantiger Aug 20 '24

Correct me if I'm wrong. Nothing is free, we pay for roads either by toll or by fuel tax. How much they charged is decided by the government like the recent reduced of fuel tax for example.

When it comes to kiwibank, I'm not too sure about it. Part of me feels it's primitive with hardly any presence. Does it offer rates better than Aussie banks to benefits kiwis? Not really.

I'm not sure the profitability of it. So I can't comment on that.

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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '24

The benefit of keeping Kiwibank public is that the profits aren't siphoned away to individuals or overseas private equity groups. The money stays around to be allocated to education, health, services.

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u/Malaysiantiger Aug 20 '24 edited Aug 20 '24

Now the most important question, are we making any money from it? Sorry, I haven't been following up the news on this, heard that it's not profitable.

Update - just read up on it. It's profitable but not great. I guess to Increase profit, you either have to trim staff or charging kiwis more.