In February 2003 the Treasury released information relating to the Government's decision to give conditional support to a strategic alliance between Air New Zealand and Qantas.
On 18 December 2002 the New Zealand Government gave conditional support to a strategic alliance between Air New Zealand and Qantas.
The Government reserved its final approvals until the completion of authorisation adjudications by competition authorities on both sides of the Tasman. In the event, the Commerce Commission in New Zealand and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in Australia declined the companies' proposal for a strategic alliance.
The strategic alliance proposal was separate from the agreement finalised by the Government in November 2001 to contribute $885 million of capital to Air New Zealand, giving the Crown an 82% ownership stake in the company. Information on this earlier agreement has also been released on the Treasury website - see Air New Zealand Recapitalisation (April 2002).
Papers in This Release#
The papers included in this information release focus on the advice and information leading to the 18 December 2002 Government decisions. The information comprises:
- reporting to Cabinet and its committees;
- formal reporting by the Treasury to the Minister of Finance on ownership issues;
- formal reporting by the Treasury to the Associate Minister of Finance (Hon Trevor Mallard) on regulatory issues;
- formal reporting by the Ministry of Transport to the Minister of Transport;
- formal reporting by other Ministries to their Ministers;
- information provided by Air New Zealand and Qantas;
- correspondence between Ministers or their officials and airlines (primarily Air NZ & Qantas);
- consultants' reports.
Papers in Three Streams#
There are five pages comprising this Air New Zealand Qantas Strategic Alliance Information Release:
- [This page] - An overview of the Air New Zealand Qantas Strategic Alliance Information Release.
- Papers structured into three streams:
- Section 100 Order - details of documents that have had deletions made under Section 100 of the Commerce Act.
This division reflects the Government's decision that there should be a clear separation between the Government's ownership role, and its regulatory role, with the Minister of Finance taking responsibility for ownership issues, and the Minister of Transport and Associate Minister of Finance (Hon Trevor Mallard) taking responsibility for regulatory issues. These advisory streams were brought together in the 17 December 2002 report to Cabinet Business Committee.
Within each stream the papers are recorded in date order.
Some deletions have been made to the papers on a number of grounds - in most cases to protect commercially sensitive information that could prejudice Air NZ if acted on by certain interested parties. In addition, a large number of documents relating to the proposed alliance are currently subject to an Order made under section 100 of the Commerce Act. This Order prohibits their publication at this time. The documents which are subject to the Order are listed under Section 100 Order.