Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Battle is brewing over those Auckland Airport shares currently owned by Auckland Council. The Council actually inherited 22 percent of the airport when it was formed and since then there's been a capital raising by the airport which has diluted that holding down to 18 percent. But it's worth well over $2 billion; enough to plug that Budget gap six or seven times over. So, the Council's in a bit of a spot. Their choices are either a great big rates increase, or some pretty serious cuts or sell part or all of the family silver. Mayor Wayne Brown wants to flick the shares - and you can see the logic of that. Part of the argument for keeping the shares has been the dividend, but there hasn't been one of those in more than three years, there may be later this year, we'll see. And until recently those shares brought with them seats on the airport's board, which something the Super City chose not to take up, but not an irreversible move if you hold the shares. Now, should local bodies be involved in business activit