As the fallout from the Interislander ferry grounding continues, one of the issues that has come into stark relief is the tension present in KiwiRail as a state-owned enterprise.
State-owned enterprises came into existence in 1986 as a part of the reforming of the Lange-Douglas Government. The idea was to turn old government departments that either did – or should have – operated as businesses into a new model. It was called corporatisation.
Subsequently many of the corporatised entities were privatised and sold into private ownership – such as NZ Rail, Telecom, NZ Forestry Corporation and others.
