Forest Corporation

"Under pressure from Douglas to come up with something quickly, Gibbs wrote a simple draft report over a weekend in late March 1986. This proposed a Forest Corporation that operated under the Companies Act with staff who weren’t civil servants and that delivered a return on the capital invested.[38](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477308-556173400-38) The official report, delivered in mid-May, fleshed out these ideas further and, more radically, suggested that the company should be listed on the stock exchange with every New Zealander given shares.[39](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477308-556173400-39)   Nothing happened for a while, however, until the report was finally released to the public on the Friday before Queen’s Birthday weekend without any significant ministerial comment.[40](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477308-556173400-40) Since no one from the government had spoken to him, Gibbs feared they’d chosen to bury it. A month later, in July 1986, he came across Roger Douglas at the airport and grumbled that he hadn’t heard anything. The Minister of Finance simply replied, ‘Oh, just get cracking.’ Gibbs had no real authority, nothing had been announced, no legislation had been passed, but he resolved on Douglas’ nod to forge ahead and put his ideas into practice. He’d keep going until someone stopped him."

"Property ownership, he argued, was one of mankind’s most fundamental and important satisfactions, along with fundamental instincts such as love of family. People care about things they own. The state, by contrast, hardly knew what it owned. Back in 1986 Gibbs had argued that the best thing that could be done would be to give the public shares in Forest Corporation, Electricorp and the other state-owned enterprises. This would restore private motivations to these activities and keep the public engaged. He now thinks giving all citizens the right to buy at a discounted price, as Margaret Thatcher had done in the United Kingdom, would be better, since people value what they pay for."