The Minister’s rejection of the Canadian Pension fund bid for 40% of Auckland Airport says:

“…we are not satisfied that the proposed investment will…benefit New Zealand or…any group of New Zealanders…We are conscious that others may disagree …on the basis [that] incoming funds arising from the sale …is of such magnitude as to constitute a benefit in and of itself”.

Rather mysterious that hundreds of millions for NZ retirees who could turn around and buy shares in the same company tomorow for a third less is not a benefit to a group of New Zealanders.

Still the fine print of the reasoning shows someone’s hard work to appeal proof it. In particular there is only passing reference to Regulation 28(h), last month’s dodgy amendment to protect “strategically important infrastructure on sensitive land”.

That is shrewd. The Regulations Review Committee should invite Parliament to disallow that regulation. Perhaps the Ministers are anticipating that kind of embarrassment, because they’ve carefully stirred up a blancmange of other uncertainties to reason to the point where they can tell the Canadians to keep their money.