Political parties have traded verbal blows in Parliament over whether the Government should put its asset sales programme on hold until the referendum is held.
It took the organisers of the Keep Our Assets petition two attempts to gather enough signatures to force the non-binding referendum.
During Question Time on Wednesday, Labour Party leader David Cunliffe asked the Prime Minister whether the results of the state-owned assets referendum would influence the Government's asset sales programme.
John Key replied that it would not.
Voting in the referendum runs from 22 November to 13 December.
