SkyCity deal: this is what cronyism looks like.

This is an uncomfortable thing for tax- and rate-payers to read in the press:

Prime Minister John Key says Auckland ratepayers are unlikely to be asked to foot the bill for cost overruns on SkyCity's convention centre. But…

It’s all in the “but,” isn’t it. And as ratepayers and taxpayers can probably already guess, it’s a “but” begetting an effusion of cronyism:

Prime Minister John Key won't rule out using taxpayer money to stop SkyCity's convention centre becoming an "eyesore." 

Considering the big numbers already being thrown around – the difference between the budgeted cost for the convention centre of $402 million and the now-projected cost of $530 million plus cockups – and the “what, me worry” mien of SkyCity managing muppet Nigel Morrison (“Morrison told financial analysts SkyCity was unwilling to contribute more than $10 million to the gap without compensation for his shareholders, and floated the possibility of financial support from central or local government”) it looks like the PM’s “but” will be a “but” that hurts many butts, an arse-reaming justified on the basis of some putative visual unpleasantness.

In other words, taxpayers and ratepayers are being made ready to assume the position so that a private business can look after a bottom line – privatising its profits while quietly socialising its overruns.

Yes, Virginia, this is what cronyism looks like.