Government rapped over Air NZ crisis

By JIM EAGLES, business editor

The Government's handling of the crisis facing Air New Zealand-Ansett Australia has received a decisive thumbs down from the public, a Herald-DigiPoll reveals.

More than half of those polled indicated the Government's handling of the situation had been disappointing.

The approach of Prime Minister Helen Clark and her team won the approval of only 14 per cent of those questioned.

The poll, of 552 people, was taken from last Friday to Sunday.

Just 2 per cent rated the Government as having handled the Air New Zealand-Ansett Australia situation very well, while 12 per cent rated it as having behaved well.

By contrast, 24 per cent thought it had acted very badly and a further 29 per cent badly.

Of the remainder, 15 per cent gave a neutral rating and 17 per cent did not have a view.

That result follows an earlier survey of Auckland Chamber of Commerce members which pointed to growing dissatisfaction at the time being taken to clarify the airline's future.

Although the Air New Zealand issue was not mentioned in the chamber's questionnaire, businesses that responded gave a strong call for the Government to "clear up the Air NZ fiasco", "be decisive with regard to Air NZ" and "provide a quick solution to Air NZ's problems".

The Herald-Digipoll was taken at the end of a tumultuous few days in which Air New Zealand shares collapsed in value after the Prime Minister indicated statutory management was a viable option, then recovered when she suggested shareholders should hang on to their shares.

By week's end the airline's shares had been suspended indefinitely pending clarification of its future, while the Securities Commission was investigating a number of matters, including aspects of the Prime Minister's involvement.

The poll also found that the public have fairly clear views about who is responsible for the problems.

Asked who was mainly to blame for the collapse of Ansett Australia, 27 per cent pointed the finger at Ansett's previous owners, suggesting there is a strong belief that Air New Zealand inherited an airline in bad shape when it acquired 100 per cent ownership last year.

But Air New Zealand was the next most popular target, with 17 per cent blaming it for the failure of its Australian subsidiary.

A few of those polled blamed the Australian Government (8 per cent), the New Zealand Government (4 per cent), Air New Zealand's major shareholder Brierley Investments (6 per cent) or the unions (3 per cent).

Of the rest, 17 per cent blamed all of the above and 19 per cent had no view.

There was an even more decisive verdict on who was mainly to blame for Air New Zealand's financial problems.

Fifty-six per cent pointed the finger at the airline's management.

No other possible culprit reached double figures, with the rest of the blame being shared around Brierley (8 per cent), the New Zealand Government (5 per cent) and Singapore Airlines (2 per cent)

In spite of all the publicity about the airline's problems, 18 per cent of those questioned had no view on who was at fault and 10 per cent thought all of the above were to blame.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 per cent.

Some figures have been rounded to the nearest percentage point.

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