Short

The Keep Our Assets petition to force a referendum on privatisation has fallen short by 16,500 signatures. Over 25% of signatures submitted were invalid, unable to be matched to people on the electoral roll. This is a normal part of the process; people don't give enough information, they write illegibly, they move, or in some cases they sign more than once or give false details. Three of four successful referendum petitions have had this problem. Fortunately, submitting early means they have another two months to get the signatures required. That seems perfectly do-able, and the Mighty River Power privatisation can only help. If the share price goes up on the first day, then National's cronies are making mega-profits and National sold it too cheap. If it goes down, then the ordinary kiwis they lured into investing were sold a lemon. Either way, there should be plenty of people angry about it and not wanting to see any more of our assets privatised.

There will be a referendum. The government will lose it. And hopefully the resulting anger when they ignore it will help drive them from office.