State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in New Zealand are registered companies listed under Schedules 1 and 2 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986. Most SOEs are former government departments or agencies that were corporatised. They are responsible to the Minister of State Owned Enterprises.
Many other government-owned companies and statutory trading organisations are referred to informally as "state-owned enterprises" although they are not SOEs in the strictest sense. These are also listed here.
The function of SOEs is to operate successfully as a business, as profitable as those not owned by the Crown. The section of the Act defining this is usually interpreted as meaning that SOEs are expected to ready themselves for privatisation, though this is not always the case.
Two Ministers of the Crown act as the shareholding ministers in the company. In the case of SOEs these are usually the Minister of State Owned Enterprises (see article for list) and the Minister responsible for the particular company.
The Crown is assisted in the running of SOEs and other Crown-owned companies by the Treasury's Commercial Operations group (formerly the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit). [1]
The state enterprises are listed in Schedule 1 of the State-owned Enterprises Act. [2]
| Name | Date created | Formerly | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airways New Zealand | 1 April 1987 | Part of the Ministry of Transport | Air traffic control and air navigation providers |
| Animal Control Products Limited | 1991 | ||
| AsureQuality Limited | 2007 | ASURE NZ Ltd and AgriQuality Ltd | |
| Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 1 April 1987 [3] | NZE, NZED, State Hydro Department | Shell of previous electricity utility. Assets transferred to Contact, Genesis, Meridian, Mighty River |
| KiwiRail Holdings Limited | 1 July 2008 | Toll NZ (rolling stock and inter-island ferries) Ontrack (track and infrastructure) | Formerly New Zealand Rail (1990–1995), Tranz Rail (1995–2002), Toll Rail (2002–2008) |
| Kordia | 1 July 1989 | Subsidiary of Television New Zealand | Formerly Broadcast Communications Limited or BCL, renamed 2006. |
| Landcorp | 1 April 1987 | Commercial arm of Department of Survey and Land Information | |
| Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited | July 1992 | Part of the Ministry of Transport | Known as MetService |
| NZ Post | 1 April 1987 | New Zealand Post Office | Telecom New Zealand, PostBank split off 1987. |
| New Zealand Railways Corporation | 31 December 2012 | Owns the land underneath KiwiRail's network | |
| Quotable Value Limited | 2005 | Valuation NZ | Property valuation, particularly for local authority rating purposes |
| Transpower New Zealand | 1994 | Subsidiary of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | National grid operator |
The following table lists entities that are monitored by Treasury, but are not state enterprises (see table above). [1] For a more complete list of government entities and organisations, see Public sector organisations in New Zealand.
| Name | Date created | Formerly | Government ownership | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accident Compensation Corporation | ||||||||
| AgResearch | 1992 | Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, DSIR | ||||||
| Air New Zealand | 1 April 1965 | Tasman Empire Airways Limited, National Airways Corporation | 51.95% [4] | Largely privatised in 1989, government subsequently bought a 73% stake in 2001, and sold down to 53% in November 2013. | ||||
| Christchurch Airport | 25% | |||||||
| Crown Asset Management Limited | ||||||||
| Crown Fibre Holdings Limited | ||||||||
| Dunedin Airport | 1989 | 50% | ||||||
| Earthquake Commission | 1945 | |||||||
| Genesis Energy Limited | 1999 | Part of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 52.4% [5] | Floated on the sharemarket April 2014. | ||||
| Government Superannuation Fund Authority | ||||||||
| Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation | ||||||||
| Hawke's Bay Airport Limited | ||||||||
| Housing New Zealand Corporation | ||||||||
| Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited | 1992 | DSIR | ||||||
| Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences Limited | 1992 | DSIR | ||||||
| Landcare Research New Zealand Limited | ||||||||
| Mercury Energy | 1999 | Part of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 51.15% [6] | Floated on the sharemarket in May 2013. | ||||
| Meridian Energy | 1999 | Part of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 51.02% [7] | Floated on the sharemarket in October 2013. | ||||
| National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Limited | ||||||||
| National Provident Fund | ||||||||
| Network for Learning Limited | ||||||||
| New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited | ||||||||
| New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency | ||||||||
| New Zealand Lotteries Commission | ||||||||
| New Zealand Venture Investment Limited | ||||||||
| Public Trust | ||||||||
| Radio New Zealand | ||||||||
| Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Limited | ||||||||
| Southern Response Earthquake Services Limited | ||||||||
| Tamaki Redevelopment Company | ||||||||
| Television New Zealand | ||||||||
| The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited | 1 December 2008 | HortResearch and Crop and Food Research |
Former state-owned enterprises come in three forms – those removed from the Schedules of the Act and made Crown entities, those removed and not privatised, and those removed and privatised. Well-known SOEs that became Crown entity companies include broadcasting companies Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ).
Privatised state-owned enterprises include: [8]
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Other, non-SOE Crown-owned companies are the Crown entity companies. These are the Crown Research Institutes (CRIs), the broadcasting companies Television New Zealand Limited (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand Limited (RNZ), and the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund Limited.
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) or government-owned enterprise (GOE) is a business enterprise where the government or state has significant control through full, majority, or significant minority ownership. Defining characteristics of SOEs are their distinct legal form and operation in commercial affairs and activities. While they may also have public policy objectives, SOEs should be differentiated from government agencies or state entities established to pursue purely nonfinancial objectives.
Public sector organisations in New Zealand comprise the state sector organisations plus those of local government.
NZ Post, shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing postal service in New Zealand.
A Crown entity is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governance and accountability statute. The Crown Entities Act is based on the corporate model where the governance of the organisation is split from the management of the organisation.
Council-controlled organisations (CCOs) and council-controlled trading organisations in New Zealand are what were formerly known as local-authority trading enterprises (LATEs). Introduced under Sections 6 and 7 of the Local Government Act 2002, they are essentially any company with a majority council shareholding, or a trust or similar organisation with a majority of council-controlled votes or council-appointed trustees, unless designated otherwise. More than one council may be represented in a council-controlled organisation.
Television in New Zealand was introduced in 1960 as a state-run service. The broadcasting sector was deregulated in 1989, when the Government allowed competition to the state-owned Television New Zealand (TVNZ). There are currently three forms of broadcast television: a terrestrial (DVB-T) service provided by Freeview; satellite services provided nationwide by both Freeview and Sky; and an internet television service delivered over cable and fibre broadband provided by Vodafone.
The New Zealand Forest Service was originally established in 1919 as the State Forest Service. The State Forest Service changed its name to the New Zealand Forest Service in 1949, at about the same time that the Forests Act of 1949 passed through Parliament.
Radio New Zealand, commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates a news and current-affairs network, RNZ National, and a classical-music and jazz network, RNZ Concert, with full government funding from NZ on Air. Since 2014, the organisation's focus has been to transform RNZ from a radio broadcaster to a multimedia outlet, increasing its production of digital content in audio, video, and written forms.
Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited, was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003.
The New Zealand Post Office (NZPO) was a government department of New Zealand until 1987. It was previously named the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department.
The Ministry of Transport is the public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the government on transport policy.
The New Zealand Treasury is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the Government on economic policy, assisting with improving the performance of New Zealand's economy, and managing financial resources.
A crown agency was an administrative body of the British Empire, distinct from the Civil Service Commission of Great Britain or the government administration of the national entity in which it operated. These enterprises were overseen from 1833 to 1974 by the Office of the Crown Agents in London, thereafter named the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administration. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations Ltd became a private limited company providing development services in 1996.
A statutory corporation is a corporation created by the state. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they might be ordinary companies/corporations owned by a government with or without other shareholders, or they might be a body without shareholders that is controlled by national or sub-national government to the extent provided for in the creating legislation.
New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC) is the state-owned enterprise that owns the land beneath KiwiRail's railway network on behalf of the Crown. The Corporation has existed under a number of guises since 1982, when the old New Zealand Railways Department was corporatised followed by deregulation of the land transport sector. In 1986, the Corporation became a State-owned enterprise, required to make a profit. Huge job losses and cutbacks ensued, and the rail network, rail operations and ferry service of the Corporation were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited in 1990. The Corporation retained ownership of the land beneath the railway network, and charged a nominal rental to New Zealand Rail, which was privatised in 1993, and renamed Tranz Rail in 1995. In 2004, following a deal with Tranz Rail's new owners Toll NZ, the Corporation took over responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the rail network once more, trading under the name ONTRACK. Negotiations with Toll over track access charges concluded after four years with no agreement reached, so the government purchased the entire rail and ferry operations, naming the service KiwiRail. ONTRACK's railway infrastructure and employees were then transferred to KiwiRail in 2008, which itself was initially a subsidiary of the Corporation. On 31 December 2012, the Corporation once again became the landowner.
Crown corporations in Canada are government organizations with a mixture of commercial and public-policy objectives. They are directly and wholly owned by the Crown.
New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General, also known as the "Lands" case or "SOE" case, was a seminal New Zealand legal decision marking the beginning of the common law development of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The Shipping Corporation of New Zealand was a New Zealand shipping company created by the Third Labour Government led by Norman Kirk in 1973.
Thompson & Clark Investigations Ltd, known as Thompson and Clark or TCIL is a New Zealand private investigation agency founded in 2003 by principals Nicolas Guy 'Nick' Thompson and Gavin Shane Clark. The company has been involved in repeated scandals over spying on environmentalist and activist groups, often on behalf of government agencies and state-owned enterprises. In December 2018 after a scandal involving spying for government agencies the company was removed as a preferred supplier by the New Zealand Government.
