October 20, 2025 • 8 mins
We catch up with the Prince of the Provinces in Sydney, where he’s “promoting opportunities for investment and collaboration in the development of New Zealand’s natural resources”. It’s top of the agenda during three upcoming international mining and geothermal conferences, the Resources Minister says. We also debate the Alliance and Fonterra votes and lament the mega-strikes this week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here is the Prince of the Provinces, the Minister of
digging it up and damning it up. Yes, Shane Jones.
He's in Sydney for a mining conference. Shane, before we
talk about mining and having spent some time recently in Perth,
I can see the upside of it. I want to
get stuck into you in Winston momentarily about your meddling
in the Alliance vote and the upcoming Fonterra vote. It's
(00:22):
none of your business.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
No, Politicians who have a broad view of history and
have a good understanding of what are the vulnerabilities facing
our nation have every right to call out corporate leaders
if we disagree with their strategy, because Fonterra would not
exist if it wasn't for politicians. Helen Clark breathed life
into their entity and Alliance by their own admission, we're
(00:47):
doing this to satisfy the Aussie owned banks. Both of
those issues are very political.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
But the farmer owned cooperatives effectively like a private company.
The owners decide their future.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Now the owners aren't deciding their future. The owners are
jumping to the tune of the Ossie and banks. This
is what the promoter of the deal said, all along
and anything that looks like the Ossie and banks are
operating in a manner that over time is going to
deny us more profit making opportunities with value added and
(01:21):
going up the value chain. Those are all yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
But you realize, of course, that your coalition partners Luxeon
and Seymour were totally supportive of, for instance, the Fonterra deal.
It's better for the economy, according to them, it's more profitable.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, time will tell whether or not the whole existence
of Fonterra, what has been its net benefits since those
healthy and days of Helen Clark breathing life into it,
or Winston was saying, we know we're not luddites. We
can't stop the farmers from taking the capital and a
lot of them are at an aging cohort and they
probably want to get out of farming. The kids do
on a milk cows. But know this from us, Fonterra
(01:58):
and the farmers will not down our door after the
next election. Can can we help them with water rights?
Can we help them with nutrient rights? Can we help
them with what they'll regard as the dead weight burden
of excessive environmentalism? Well, it's a two way street.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That sounds a bit like a threat.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It's not a threat. They're already knocking on my door.
They're already saying that the Wycata regional plan is so onerous.
A number of them doubt whether or not they can
raise the necessary capital to meet these new water standards. Now,
fortunately I agree with them. I agree more with the
veggie growers that they're being forced out of business by
these klingon rent seeking sort of catastrophe suits. Believe everything
(02:40):
that we do to touch the land is going to
lead to some sort of permanent detrimental effect, as always
trade offs when you use capital, land people, and you
try and satisfy markets.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And here was I thinking you and once that would
be one hundred percent support of without a file of
our number one export industry.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Now they know exactly where New Zealand first stands, and
it's not unreasonable for us to call out this huge organization.
And look, I know them all, and we can't stop
what they're doing. But I've got to ask you, are
we just now an entity that creates an ongoing flow
(03:22):
of commodities and we've probably given up and surrendered to
others value associated with brands. They told me there is
no value in brands. So that's the case. How come
these other people are knocking on the door to buy them?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You might learn a listen lesson, should I say? From
history here? Remember the old six million or eight million
dollar man Tao sparrings worldwide domination value add blah blah blah.
How did that end up for Fonterra Shane.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
That's exactly right. They wasted all that money in China.
But that had to do with a gregious governance failure.
And why is that the government's problem? If a large
organization like Fonterra was unable to execute a corporate strategy.
And I guess what you're saying is that there are
other entities around the world more than capable of kicking
(04:09):
that goal, and that New Zealand's largest company should surrender
to them the ability to make that level of money.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
What's happening in Sydney? What are you doing there? There's
a mining conference. You'd be like a pegan market one
of these.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Mate well over ten thousand people. The guts of the
issue is that we are here to promote the reinvigoration
of our mineral sector. There's a lot of Kiwis who
are selling Wes goods services all around the world. And
this is a great, big jamboree. I came last year
after a long period of absence from the New Zealand
(04:45):
political establishment and they invited me back and I'm giving
a speech in engaging with all sorts of media. But
the real story is we're legitimizing mining. We're opening up
the opportunities. And look, you can't change the weather climate
speaking through all these political incantations, and we've got to
(05:06):
bring to a halt this rent seeking behavior from the
stakeholders who don't want mining to happen unless they get
they're part of the pie, and then of course reduces
the whole viability of the project. But it won't be
just mining that's under attack. I mean, I'm telling you
vegetable growing, farming, and a variety of the primary produce
sectors are going to consistently be facing political stresses and attacks.
(05:29):
That's why the farmers, the miners, the forestry people, they
have a sort of hate love relationship with New Zealand.
First Sadley, but the others realize that we're an important
ingredient to balance in robustness and pushing back against this
green rent seeking tape womb behavior.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
And as if you're not going to have enough fun
in Sydney with your mining jamboree as you called it,
Shane Jones, You're off then to the United States for
two more mining conferences. This is kind of utape for you.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yes, yes, well and truly putting our footprint down. We
are world leaders in terms of geothermal technology, geothermal human capital,
but we need more geothermal generation back home to reduce
the level of dependency that business has on the main grid.
(06:23):
Because I've long since decided the gentailors, I'm not going
to save New Zealand businesses, but I'll have more to
say about that at the next election. So us going
to America is to share our knowledge, attract further investment,
maintain the momentum that we've got geothermal fields. We've got
the knowledge, we've got the technological nohow and we just
(06:45):
need to affect better levels of connectivity.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Hey, one to really quickly finish on, because I know
you've got to go to another interview. The Mega strike
on Thursday, teachers, nurses, doctors, What the heu's Palestine got
to do with teachers?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
A lot of these strikes, as Judith Colins has articulated,
a lot of these strikes are driven by politics. They're
driven by the Green Party, They're driven by Labor Party.
And look the kids in Kaitai Kaiko Eketahuna. They don't
give a rats and neither do their appearance as to
what status New Zealand has adopted in respect of Palestine.
(07:23):
So it's diversionary politics and it's just a reminder of
how egregious really the political workness has penetrated into the
advocacy of the public less the public service the unions
purporting to represent them. I'm solidly with Simeon and Judith Colins,
but it's all design mate to sap the will of
(07:45):
the government to stand robustly and win another election. I'll
have more to say about that early next year. But
no one is going to use climate change strikes or
other forms of wokism to undermine hour resolve to continue
to turn the country around and make more jobs, boost
our earnings. But we're all in it together. And just
(08:06):
because Fonterra and the meat farmers are capable of making
independent decisions, they should always expect people to have opinions
not the least of which are the politicians out in
New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, well, we can agree on the war on Woke Corre,
all in boots and all for that one. But we
can agree to disagree on the Alliance and Fonterra. You
and Winston need to butt out. Great to chat, Okay
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Mate, thank you very much,
Here is the Prince of the Provinces, the Minister of
digging it up and damning it up. Yes, Shane Jones.
He's in Sydney for a mining conference. Shane, before we
talk about mining and having spent some time recently in Perth,
I can see the upside of it. I want to
get stuck into you in Winston momentarily about your meddling
in the Alliance vote and the upcoming Fonterra vote. It's
(00:22):
none of your business.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
No, Politicians who have a broad view of history and
have a good understanding of what are the vulnerabilities facing
our nation have every right to call out corporate leaders
if we disagree with their strategy, because Fonterra would not
exist if it wasn't for politicians. Helen Clark breathed life
into their entity and Alliance by their own admission, we're
(00:47):
doing this to satisfy the Aussie owned banks. Both of
those issues are very political.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
But the farmer owned cooperatives effectively like a private company.
The owners decide their future.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Now the owners aren't deciding their future. The owners are
jumping to the tune of the Ossie and banks. This
is what the promoter of the deal said, all along
and anything that looks like the Ossie and banks are
operating in a manner that over time is going to
deny us more profit making opportunities with value added and
(01:21):
going up the value chain. Those are all yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
But you realize, of course, that your coalition partners Luxeon
and Seymour were totally supportive of, for instance, the Fonterra deal.
It's better for the economy, according to them, it's more profitable.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, time will tell whether or not the whole existence
of Fonterra, what has been its net benefits since those
healthy and days of Helen Clark breathing life into it,
or Winston was saying, we know we're not luddites. We
can't stop the farmers from taking the capital and a
lot of them are at an aging cohort and they
probably want to get out of farming. The kids do
on a milk cows. But know this from us, Fonterra
(01:58):
and the farmers will not down our door after the
next election. Can can we help them with water rights?
Can we help them with nutrient rights? Can we help
them with what they'll regard as the dead weight burden
of excessive environmentalism? Well, it's a two way street.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
That sounds a bit like a threat.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It's not a threat. They're already knocking on my door.
They're already saying that the Wycata regional plan is so onerous.
A number of them doubt whether or not they can
raise the necessary capital to meet these new water standards. Now,
fortunately I agree with them. I agree more with the
veggie growers that they're being forced out of business by
these klingon rent seeking sort of catastrophe suits. Believe everything
(02:40):
that we do to touch the land is going to
lead to some sort of permanent detrimental effect, as always
trade offs when you use capital, land people, and you
try and satisfy markets.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And here was I thinking you and once that would
be one hundred percent support of without a file of
our number one export industry.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Now they know exactly where New Zealand first stands, and
it's not unreasonable for us to call out this huge organization.
And look, I know them all, and we can't stop
what they're doing. But I've got to ask you, are
we just now an entity that creates an ongoing flow
(03:22):
of commodities and we've probably given up and surrendered to
others value associated with brands. They told me there is
no value in brands. So that's the case. How come
these other people are knocking on the door to buy them?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You might learn a listen lesson, should I say? From
history here? Remember the old six million or eight million
dollar man Tao sparrings worldwide domination value add blah blah blah.
How did that end up for Fonterra Shane.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
That's exactly right. They wasted all that money in China.
But that had to do with a gregious governance failure.
And why is that the government's problem? If a large
organization like Fonterra was unable to execute a corporate strategy.
And I guess what you're saying is that there are
other entities around the world more than capable of kicking
(04:09):
that goal, and that New Zealand's largest company should surrender
to them the ability to make that level of money.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
What's happening in Sydney? What are you doing there? There's
a mining conference. You'd be like a pegan market one
of these.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Mate well over ten thousand people. The guts of the
issue is that we are here to promote the reinvigoration
of our mineral sector. There's a lot of Kiwis who
are selling Wes goods services all around the world. And
this is a great, big jamboree. I came last year
after a long period of absence from the New Zealand
(04:45):
political establishment and they invited me back and I'm giving
a speech in engaging with all sorts of media. But
the real story is we're legitimizing mining. We're opening up
the opportunities. And look, you can't change the weather climate
speaking through all these political incantations, and we've got to
(05:06):
bring to a halt this rent seeking behavior from the
stakeholders who don't want mining to happen unless they get
they're part of the pie, and then of course reduces
the whole viability of the project. But it won't be
just mining that's under attack. I mean, I'm telling you
vegetable growing, farming, and a variety of the primary produce
sectors are going to consistently be facing political stresses and attacks.
(05:29):
That's why the farmers, the miners, the forestry people, they
have a sort of hate love relationship with New Zealand.
First Sadley, but the others realize that we're an important
ingredient to balance in robustness and pushing back against this
green rent seeking tape womb behavior.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
And as if you're not going to have enough fun
in Sydney with your mining jamboree as you called it,
Shane Jones, You're off then to the United States for
two more mining conferences. This is kind of utape for you.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yes, yes, well and truly putting our footprint down. We
are world leaders in terms of geothermal technology, geothermal human capital,
but we need more geothermal generation back home to reduce
the level of dependency that business has on the main grid.
(06:23):
Because I've long since decided the gentailors, I'm not going
to save New Zealand businesses, but I'll have more to
say about that at the next election. So us going
to America is to share our knowledge, attract further investment,
maintain the momentum that we've got geothermal fields. We've got
the knowledge, we've got the technological nohow and we just
(06:45):
need to affect better levels of connectivity.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Hey, one to really quickly finish on, because I know
you've got to go to another interview. The Mega strike
on Thursday, teachers, nurses, doctors, What the heu's Palestine got
to do with teachers?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
A lot of these strikes, as Judith Colins has articulated,
a lot of these strikes are driven by politics. They're
driven by the Green Party, They're driven by Labor Party.
And look the kids in Kaitai Kaiko Eketahuna. They don't
give a rats and neither do their appearance as to
what status New Zealand has adopted in respect of Palestine.
(07:23):
So it's diversionary politics and it's just a reminder of
how egregious really the political workness has penetrated into the
advocacy of the public less the public service the unions
purporting to represent them. I'm solidly with Simeon and Judith Colins,
but it's all design mate to sap the will of
(07:45):
the government to stand robustly and win another election. I'll
have more to say about that early next year. But
no one is going to use climate change strikes or
other forms of wokism to undermine hour resolve to continue
to turn the country around and make more jobs, boost
our earnings. But we're all in it together. And just
(08:06):
because Fonterra and the meat farmers are capable of making
independent decisions, they should always expect people to have opinions
not the least of which are the politicians out in
New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, well, we can agree on the war on Woke Corre,
all in boots and all for that one. But we
can agree to disagree on the Alliance and Fonterra. You
and Winston need to butt out. Great to chat, Okay
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Mate, thank you very much,
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