The Country 12/09/24: Shane Jones talks to Jamie Mackay

The Prince of the Provinces and Regional Development Minister drops the F Bomb in relation to the energy crisis, plus talks about banks and supermarkets, 9/11 and the Presidential Debate.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here is the Prince of the Province's Martua, Shane Jones,
and now he can add the F bomb to his
colorful resume. Yes, Shane, Minister of Economic Development, you're none
too pleased about those mill closures in the central North Island.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Ghastly outcome. The closure reflects a big structural adjustment that
I fear is underway in New Zealand. Know this from me.
It's likely to strike the South Island unless we can
keep the coal mines open on the west coast. Because
so many of your big manufacturers down there rely on coal.
There have been some fanciful dreams and visions that they

(00:39):
were going to rapidly move away from coal. That's highly
unlikely to happen. And whilst there's no gas in your
neck of the woods, for the North in this particular mill,
the cost of energy is just stupendously high. And it's
a sad day that the Chief Executive Officer, grossly over

(01:00):
mad of Meridium dismisses the comments from Parliament that there
is a crisis of energy and he says it's because
we've all got new light bulbs. Or if he keeps
that going towards an intellection I'm looking forward to putting
his lights out.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I threw this one at Prime Minister Christopher Luxen yesterday.
Is that the government's job to step in and bail
out industries like this to keep two or three hundred
jobs in place. And I know it's very important economically
strategic for that part of the country, but you can't
save every business.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
No, we're running an economic policy where cash is short.
We don't, unlike other countries, have a special fund to
cope with sharp edges of the transition. Canada have a
dedicated fund to cope with electricity prices for large manufacturers.
Singapore has a fund to underwrite the costs of clean

(02:00):
green energy transition. Germany had one. Look, it's not a
part of our economic ideology, partly because their money is
so tight. This problem should have been solved by our
energy sector and our power companies.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Well, we are really going yet, we are really going
to be in trouble in this country. And I'm not
downplaying the importance of the timber mills at all. But
if our dairy factories, of our meat processing companies can't
keep the lights on, and that's when it will really
start to bite.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
I agree. I think that there is a big prospect
that we're going to move more towards an import economy,
which could have fatal consequences for New Zealand. We've got
to keep our exports up. We must boost manufacturing. We
must boost the size of industrial outputs so we can
have the cash so we don't suffer a balance of

(02:56):
a billions of partment's crisis. And that can only happen
if we have achievably, if we have sustainably competitive international
prices for energy, and at the moment, the forward PERV
shows that we don't. Despite all the shaggy dog stories
we're hearing from these characters running our power sector, which

(03:16):
is why long been a supporter. We need to change
the structure of our power industry now. The people who
have hydraulic the value of the assets up from the
power sector, old assets that have long since been depreciated.
They don't like this analysis of mine, but the sustainability
of five million people and maintaining our status as a

(03:38):
first world nation with affordable and reliable energy otherwise known
as energy securities, is far more important than the three
and a half million dollar salary that one of those
blokes has got.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Can you sort out the banks from the supermarkets while
you're on the job.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Well, you know as well as I do that the
supermarkets were taken on by me in twenty and thirteen fourteen.
I couldn't get the Labor Party to back me. I
was undermined by elements from the union movement back then. Hollow.
Fast forward twenty twenty two and they're trying to sort
out the supermarkets. The banking situation is in the baluwick

(04:15):
of Nikola Willis, and she's got a bunch of things
underway there. It's probably a big call coming our way
what to do with Kiwibank, whether or not we left
some private capital into Kiwibank and turn them into a
more competitive force. And at the same time, the reserve
bank you may not know this, are requiring the big

(04:37):
banks to hold more and more capital in reserve. And
the more capital that they hold in reserve for a
two hundred year event or a one hundred year event,
tirely sure what the period of time is, it does
then require them to take a decent return out of
the market with their interest rates. So there's some regulatory

(04:58):
change needed there in our banking sector.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Did you watch the Trump Harris debate.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Bits and pieces. I can't comment on the diet of
the Haitians with cats and dots, but look at it
shows the celebrity dimension, the almost Hollywood entertained entertainment dimension
now embedded in American politics.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
A final comment from you. It is the twelfth of
September here, It is the eleventh of September in the
States as we speak, nine to eleven. Where were you?
What were you doing? Were you in the States studying
at that time?

Speaker 2 (05:34):
No, but I had been into the Twin Towers when
I lived in the States. I had some friends working there.
I'd literally been in and out of those buildings. I
was back in New Zealand. I was in Wellington, and
I remember vividly the day that the towers came down.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Shane Jones, Regional Development Minister. It's been effing good to
have you on the show today. Thanks for your time.
Do you like what I did there?

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yes? If for a word that I dare not mention
on your show, go well, folks.