Allan Hubbard thanked Treasury, Prime Minister John Key and Finance Minister Bill English for helping save his company nine months before the Government placed it in receivership, just released documents show.
The PM admits he talked with MediaWorks bosses before they received a $43.3 million helping hand from the Govt.
Labour has called the Govt's revised $1.2b South Canterbury Finance bill a "disaster of epic proportions", saying Finance Minister Bill English "grossly mishandled" the situation and should resign as a result.
The New Zealand dollar reached a seven-week high against the greenback today on further evidence of rising commodity prices while investors continued to be more comfortable with risk.
Prime Minister John Key said the Government has more spending to come, pointing at an EQC net cost estimate of $1.5b for the latest quake.
A $1.7 billion higher-than-forecast deficit points to the fiscal challenges the Government faces in its May budget, Prime Minister John Key says.
The government's finances have taken a $331 million hit, largely due to problems recovering money from failed South Canterbury Finance's tangled set of related party loans.
A Treasury paper out today argues for lower tax and less government spending, saying the size and the structure of government plays an important role in economic performance.
Prime Minister John Key was called a liar when he fronted a meeting in Timaru last night packed with vocal Allan Hubbard supporters. The PM was forced to defend the Govt's handling of South Canterbury Finance to a bositrous 500-strong crowd
The Christchurch earthquake will knock gross domestic product growth back by 1.5 percentage points this year, but Treasury predicts a silver lining with 2012 bringing a sizeable boost to residential, commercial and infrastructure investment
John Key says a national memorial service will allow all NZers to mourn, with details of the service to be announced early next week.
A search for survivors has now become a grim effort to recover dead bodies from the rubble of Christchurch city centre.
The Government's budget in May will show the cost of the Christchurch earthquake, Prime Minister John Key says.
The New Zealand dollar may extend its losses this week as the cost of the Christchurch earthquake becomes clearer.
The receivers of Equitable Mortgages say it's too soon to say how much of the property lender's $188.4m worth of loans they are likely to recover.