Shane, welcome now to New Zealand's associate energy minister, Shane Jones.
0:05
Shane, great to see you.
0:07
Hi, mate. Sorry we missed you in Sydney, but it's great to have you on the show.
0:10
Now you're in New Zealand. Um, can you please clear up for us what is New Zealand's policy towards net zero? I was yelling from the rafters a few months ago saying it's great, New Zealand's abandoned net zero. And then I got all these New Zealanders saying, "No, no,
no, no, it's still here." So, what's the real story? What's the true story?
0:29
you're in charge. What's happening with net zero in New Zealand?
0:33
Uh brick by brick, we're dismantling it, mate. We've reinstated a license to reestablish the coal industry in New Zealand. We've gone beyond this unicorn kissing view that only clean
green energy will keep the lights on.
0:48
We've spent $200 million or not put it aside to reinvigorate the gas industry as a repudiation of Jacinda Ardern's industrial crippling decision to cancel the gas industry in New Zealand. So
brick by brick, we're dismantling it.
1:04
We're going into an election next year, September, October. And know this from me, the party that I belong to and our leader Winston Peters, a key part of our manifesto will be a a complete inversion of this commitment that Jacinda signed us up to and quite frankly the dead weight cost of these climate policies is a burden that our economy cannot uh bear. We probably
are a bit further ahead of the curve than where you are in Aussie. uh the
1:35
public have now worked out that energy is totally over the top in terms of how expensive it is. We run the risk of de-industrialization.
1:45
So I think you'd find that the the rhythm or the underlying message in New Zealand is we're not going to maintain a set of targets or a set of expectations that our economy cannot bear. Retita,
1:58
well, what has net zero done to energy prices in New Zealand? And what does it do to reliability? Have the uh have you got citizens who are in energy poverty like we are seeing in the UK?
2:15
Yeah, I'm the minister of resources and we're just about to finalize a set of changes to our energy policy that will go to our cabinet. But the real problem is we were a lowcost energy system.
2:31
We grew up on the back of our forefathers building the hydro dams, the geo dams. And I'm not entirely sure what the social mindset is that gripped New Zealanders in Jacinda's time. The
reality is the power prices have not come down as a consequence of wind and solar. And
if anything, last winter uh I believe we had the highest spiking prices for electricity in the entire OECD.
3:04
And what's driven this? A hatred of fossil fuels, a false belief that you can run an economy without peaking power,
3:13
affirming power derived either from coal and gas. So, we went through a 180 degree turn and basically buried Jacinda's thinking and we're I've just come back from Singapore where we're
going to turbocharge g exploration, gas development and we're not going to be intimidated from using our own coal because sadly month by month up to a million tons of coal we need to bring in from Indonesia because of historic juvenile unicorn kissing thinking that we can grow rich without using our own resources.
3:45
This is wonderful. I'm in heaven. James Minister, this is so good.
3:49
Tell me more though about, you know, the broader state of the New Zealand economy. What has happened to the economy? Because my understanding is that productivity has taken a real serious hit in recent years. How much of that is due to the fact that power prices are so high?
4:06
And while I know you would be loathed to comment on another nation's policies, how much of a cautionary tale do you see New Zealand as being for Australia? Are we just going down the same Jacinda road? Do you see it from your perspective? And what are the dangers for us over on this side of the ditch?
4:24
Well, my boss is Winston Peters and his favorite line to his megaphone politician is stick to your stick to your own lane, Shane. But the reality is through a lot of our OECD English-speaking countries and indeed the EU, we have bought into the mindset of climate cultism without fully appreciating do we have a sustainable mandate amongst garden variety New Zealanders so that they have the ability to bear the cost.
4:56
I think the next election quite frankly is going to be about resetting, rebalancing, and avoiding
de-industrialization.
5:04
Now, obviously, we're giving you our workforce every week, every month, every year, but a lot of the Kiwis do come home. Just bear in mind, we're about a 27080 billion GD us GDP economy. Uh we rely heavily on agriculture. agriculture is not a part of our emissions trading
scheme. Uh by and large they do not face these climate taxes and long may that prevail. My leader Winston Peters has consistently campaigned on ensuring that we quarantine our
largest export earner, dairy and agriculture from quite frankly what has turned into be a very commercially damaging ideology and driven largely by the Green Party and Jacinda Ardern and thankfully she's gone living in exile I think up there at Harvard University.
6:00
I'm glad you mentioned Shane Jacinda because there was a point there where she was seemed to be you know worrying about the farting cows and getting all concerned about the farmers and there was a period there where it looked quite threatening or menacing for
New Zealand farmers which is of course a huge part of your economy.
6:20
But what lessons for Australia Shane you know when when you've finished up there can you please come over here and help us because we're in dire straits. We've got the government who are completely wedded to this unicorn story as you as you call it, the climate change doomsday cult.
6:39
We've got an opposition who can't decide whether they're Arthur or Martha or wandering around not knowing what to do. What's your advice I guess politically? You mentioned the next New Zealand election, but how can you in the next 30 seconds or so give our coalition some backbone, Shane?
6:56
Well all I can do is remind us if you do not have affordable energy in an economy then your economy is going to de-industrialize. That is the challenge that I as a regional center right uh
patriotic politician I'm dealing with every week which is why along with our colleagues from the national party and the ACT party uh we're about to generate some solutions and interventions but mate it's going to take quite a deep dive.
7:25
I mean, these viral influences have embedded themsel in the infrastructure and the scaffolding of the state now. And there's always elements that are trying to outweigh democratically elected politicians.
7:36
You may or may not do over the last week. Uh we had to get the greenies and our and our wildlife department to back down because of decisions they were making that upheld the status of lizards amongst human above human beings.
7:50
That'll be right. Fortunately, we led a bit of a campaign to get these wildlife people to hop back in the box where they belong and enable the politicians to run the country rather than these very nefarious forces that hide deep in the system which don't agree with my quality of rhetoric or or our approach.
8:14
And our approach in the party I belong to New Zealand First is we are not going to have the
weaponizations of frogs, lizards, dead moths against jobs, investment and continual prosperity. Simple as that.
8:27
And the Kiwis are on my side.
8:29
Bravo. So good to listen to you, Shane.
8:32
If you've got a twin brother you can or sister you can send over here to help us, we need all help we can over in Australia. Uh that's Shane Jones there.
8:41
New Zealand Resources Minister doing a sensational job.
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