The Country 12/02/25: Shane Jones talks to Jamie Mackay

The Prince of the Provinces talks about his big fisheries announcement today, his anti-Greens rant yesterday in the House, and why he's determined to fast-track progress in a "remarkably short period of time". 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It was great yesterday at the National Lamb Day Barbecue
to catch up with Martua Shane Jones, the Prince of
the province, as the Minister of digging it up and
damning it up. He was biting into quite a few
lamb shops when I saw him before putting the bite
on his political foes in the house, putting them to
the sword later in the afternoon, Shane, good afternoon, And

(00:20):
I was in there at question time and I was
watching you in Winston and all your glory.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, it's important that we bring liveliness and a level
of frizon, not friction, but excitement to the House because
politics has to be conducted in such a way that
it resonates with the garden variety. Qy And sadly you
missed my speech where I declared that I would be

(00:46):
tolerating no ideological gumfluff from the Greens as the development
and opening up further opportunities for fishing, for mining and
other kinds of expective activities because too many of our
young people of disappearing to Australia.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now I'm going to quote you. We're going to talk
about fishing in a moment. This is direct from your speech. Now,
as you know, I'm largely a doubting Thomas about all
the shrillness to do with climate change. But I am
a man of fidelity and I will remain faithful to
the position of the Cabinet that we must find ways
to adapt in terms of climate change challenges. To do that,
we need to rescue projects out of the bog, out

(01:23):
of the bureaucratic thicket so they can be approved in
a remarkably short period of time. You're sounding a bit
like Trump.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, I want your listeners to be fair. We campaigned
in that vein my leader and myself and MB at
the moment are going through a process of consulting about
the twenty twenty two dead weight imposition of climate reporting
on two hundred financial bodies in New Zealand. It all

(01:55):
should be discretionary. If a bank WANs witter on about
climate change, and they should do it at their discretion,
at their cost, not because of a state fit. And
this is what was imposed by Jacinda and the Green Party.
And that's why our new anti woking bill against banks
and anti woke banking bill against those institutions is very important.

(02:20):
We're going to bring a Holt of these luxury beliefs
that are blacking the lives of farmers, miners, fishing people
and garden variety.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Kiwih And, I'd support you on that, Matoa Shine. But
will Christopher Luxen will will your meme us of David
Seymour support you on that?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well? He knows that climate change regulations, if they're not smart,
if they're not delivering an outcome that causes the boat
to go faster than it represents a threat to our government. Obviously, Nicola,
Finance Minister has said, look, well we'll have a look

(02:58):
at the bill if it's drawn from the biscuit Tim,
but fifteen to eighteen months will pass very quickly, and
your listeners should know that our next election campaign is
going to be solidly winding back the unnecessary costs and
positions and other such metropolitan dreams that the farmers having

(03:19):
imposed upon them by these microclan cyclists.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Good work now. The PM's minders were none too pleased
with me yesterday when I raised the subject of David
seymour stunt in the series one land Rover. I think
you'll be a bit more forthcoming on that. What did
you make of it?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Oh? Look, Jerry dealt with the issue in the House
the other day. David's apologized. Shane dern Hearne, whatever his
name was, from Taranaki, he faced chargers and I felt
about our half of the fire. Who was the security
guard to be impleasant on Television one and various other

(03:59):
parts of the me But look, David sort of stood
down and he's apologized to the speaker. I just know
that had I have been in that lander driving it,
Winston would have made me a spare wheel right there
and there.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
How do you stay awake in Parliament? Even though it
was quite raucous when we were in there for question
time yesterday. But I'm imagining if you're a backbench, especially
an opposition MP, it must be a dreary, dull life.
And even if you're a government back bench EMP, you've
got to ask these terrible patsy questions. Did you ever
have to do that?

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Two thousand and five I was in such a distant
location a set of brodoculars were needed for Michael Cullen
to see me, and I too had to stand and
ask a variety of questions. I tried to inject a
bit of humor and liveliness into them. But look, when
you're a back bencher, you're essentially a third former, and
it's an opportunity to learn the ranks and learn you

(05:00):
through the ranks, and learn the processes of Parliament, learned
the standing orders, and practice, as John Key did, your
ability to stand and deliver a speech for five ten
minutes without notes because you're competent on your topic. But
more importantly, you're comfortable in your own skin.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Now talking about back benches, I was over there later
in the evening having a few bears after a long
hard day at the National Lamb Day barbecue, and a
number of back benches were there having a few bears.
But they were all scurrying back to the house. They
had to be there at seven thirty, with the notable
exception of Judith Collins. And she was sitting next to
us on the next table and I said, Judith, how

(05:40):
come you're not going back at seven point thirty And
she just raised an eyebrow and that was it. Does
she march to the beat of her own drum?

Speaker 2 (05:47):
She's an institution, just as Winston has gone got greag
pedgree and cast along shadow. And no one should underestimate
Judith has wornly looked change. You must not continue spraying
rhetoric as you've been doing in the past over the
courts and the judges. So this morning, after I made

(06:09):
my fisheries announcement, mindful of her advice, I went and
sprayed rhetoric over the Seashepherd vessel which is going down
from New Zealand to the Antarctica. And sadly, Willow and
Taranaki they fell victim to misinformation saying that there's not
oceanic undersea mining in the world. There's thousands and thousands

(06:29):
of tons, and I just want to get a bit
of it for Taranaki. Of course, there's a few green,
deluded souls up there who don't want it, but their minority.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Okay, let's just quickly cover off your big fishing announcement.
You're claiming this to be one of the biggest and
most transformative announcements since the quota system back in the eighties.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yes, we're going to increase the level of flexibility, reduce
the burden upon the fishing industry so they can get
out there, maintain their jobs, grow the businesses without too
much nitpicking bureaucracy. So these changes, they are broader. They
are more comprehensive than anything that's ever been introduced since

(07:10):
the quota system was shuffle shepherded forward by Colin Moyle.
I think a name from the past in David Long's goverment.
But ah, it's a consultation document. There will be a
few people who disagree with me. I understand Greenpeace and
others are meeting with the Prime Minister today. They have
regular catchups and I've got no time, as you know,

(07:33):
for Greenpeace and these other foreign alien influences undermining New
Zealand's fiscal solvency. In Regional New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Matoa Shane Jones, the Prince of the Province is the
minister of digging it up and damming it up. You
keep hauling those fish out of the sea and making
it easier for the fishing industry and more sustainable in
the process. Thanks for your time today.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I see if it's by