KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister John Key says the Government would expect jobs to be protected as a condition of any bailout deals with private companies.
Mr Key was further questioned yesterday about the prospect of rescue packages for companies after he broached the possibility of doing so for Fisher & Paykel Appliances on Monday.
In Parliament, Labour leader Phil Goff continued to put pressure on Mr Key to list what criteria he would use, how much he was prepared to spend, and what conditions would apply to any Government help.
Mr Key said Mr Goff was jumping to conclusions to suggest there would be bailouts, but any help would carry conditions.
"If there were, there would be conditions, of course, and we would expect New Zealand jobs to be maintained."
He said there would be "a very high benchmark indeed" for any such action and denied the Government had a list of possible cases.
Finance Minister Bill English was also questioned about bailouts and concern from business leaders about such a precedent. He said he was not
surprised that some business leaders had expressed concern at a possible Government bailout of Fisher & Paykel.
"I think anyone would be cautious about the Government taking steps to assist a business in a recession, and that is why the hurdles for any assistance have to be high," said Mr English.
Mr Key also took care to reject suggestions that he had given Fisher & Paykel an assurance the Government would step in rather than let the company collapse.
It followed media reports about the case, including an interview with F&P Appliances CEO John Bongard on Radio NZ on Tuesday about a conversation he had with Mr Key.
When asked if Mr Key indicated the Government might step in, Mr Bongard said he had wanted to be kept up to speed with what the company was doing and "made it very, very clear that he didn't want to see an iconic company like Fisher & Paykel under pressure and sort of fall into the wrong hands".
Mr Key said he had not given an assurance to the company, beyond requesting to be kept up to date.
Green employment spokeswoman Sue Bradford said the Government should attach conditions to protect jobs if it stepped in to bail out a company such as Fisher & Paykel Appliances.
