An "exchange of views" in Parliament on Tuesday was instructive to onlookers concerned to discover current attitudes towards the sale of taxpayer-owned assets.
The Leader of the Opposition asked the Prime Minister which State assets were being assessed for possible sale.
John Key decided to play the points-scoring game, replying they would not include Telecom, the State Insurance Office, the Tourist Hotel Corporation, New Zealand Steel, Petrocorp, the Government Printing Office, or the DFC, "because the member has already sold those ones".
But he did eventually state that "the Government has given no consideration to selling Kiwibank.
What I can say is that the Government is giving consideration to putting more capital into Kiwibank, because the board of Kiwibank wants more capital."
This was an answer which could not in any way be considered to be conclusive and was not intended to be.
The history of asset sales has not, on the whole, been favourable for taxpayers.
The private sector nearly brought Air New Zealand to its knees before taxpayers again assumed control at a considerable cost, and the history of the railways is now part of the sorry story of asset-stripping by the private sector.
There are other former taxpayer-owned entities, and they were also listed by Mr Key: the Post Office Savings Bank, the National Film Unit, the Rural Banking and Finance Corporation, the Shipping Corporation, New Zealand Liquid Fuel Investment, Maui Gas, SynFuels, forest cutting rights, Health Computing Services and Communicate New Zealand.
Some of these unquestionably deserved to die; some failed through lack of capital or from excessive cost.
The shadow of 1970s "Think Big" was cast long and large and very expensively.
But Kiwibank has been a considerable success in its eight-year life, with reportedly 700,000 customers and a 7% share of the mortgage market, however it is no more than an irritant to the five major commercial banks, all of which are overseas-owned, and its only locally owned comparable trading bank competitor is the TSB, or Taranaki Savings Bank.
The founding of Kiwibank is probably anathema to National Party and Act New Zealand principles, since it occurred only as a consequence of the Alliance Party being a coalition partner of the Clark government's first term.
That Labour-led coalition decided to back the creation of the bank, provide its seed capital, and allow it to be run by New Zealand Post, whose chairman at the time happened to be the former National Party leader and prime minister, Jim Bolger.
There is little doubt Kiwibank has been well managed and cleverly marketed to the type of customers who might once have been attracted to the Post Office Savings Bank.
Its use by the Clark government to promote certain investment policies did it no harm, and its existence in the marketplace has been sufficient to cause the major banks to improve their services to customers.
In short, Kiwibank has to some extent been a beneficial influence in the marketplace so far as bank customers are concerned.
Its profits have also been earned and retained in this country, a consideration for patriots.
The quandary facing the Government is that Kiwibank needs more capital to expand and its directors want it to expand.
Should that capital come from taxpayers, or should part or all of the bank be "floated" on the sharemarket to all-comers?
The Government says it is supportive of the bank expanding.
The issue may come down to two questions, one political and one economic.
If the latter argument stands up to scrutiny, then there should be no impediment to allowing the bank to expand.
The political question is whether in so doing the bank remains in public - that is, taxpayer - ownership.
That may have already been decided, at least by the Cabinet's inner circle, since it is obvious public opinion is being tested in anticipation of the promised post-election State asset sell-off.
Philosophically, the Government likely will opt for a part-sale on the open market, while retaining a controlling stake.
An alternative that does not seem to have been considered and ought to be is a part-sale to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, whose total assets at April 30 stood at $16.7 billion, and whose New Zealand investments were $3.1b.
The fund has indicated it is interested in purchasing minority shareholdings in State-owned enterprises on a non-voting shares basis - a prospect that would seem to satisfy taxpayers' expectations of Kiwibank, if not the Government's.
