Azaria Howell: Senior political correspondent discusses Government's upcoming energy sector announcement

The government is expected to make a major announcement on the energy sector next week.

This announcement comes as more and more Kiwis are calling for reform.

Senior political correspondent Azaria Howell told Ryan Bridge that, according to a survey on energy reform, 62% of respondents support the government underwriting the cost of new electricity generation.

49% of respondents also said that they would be in favour of separating electricity generation and retail. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now as our hell's auri. Good afternoon, Good afternoon.
So what the big announcement on energy sector? The Frontier
report finally coming? It is going to be next week.
What do we know?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah? So Simon Bridges, who's the now the chief executive
of the Auckland Business Chamber, has released some details in
a survey on energy reform and it shows quite a
lot of people have an appetite for change. So really
crunching the numbers here, sixty two percent of respondents support
the government underwriting the cost of new electricity generation if

(00:30):
it helped to bring down prices. Twenty one percent of
respondents did not support such a move. But it does
come as tops cost of living rather is top of
mind for so many people. And another interesting question competition
in the sector. I mean people in the survey were
questioned whether competition may improve if the government broke up
the gent tailors that's those companies that generate and sell electricity.

(00:54):
Forty nine percent of people agreed with breaking that up,
essentially requiring them to separate generation and retail. And on
this one, twenty percent of people opposed to the idea,
thirty one percent unsure about this.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
What about this elections situation, the Electoral Commission comes out
says no, well, PM says make it faster. They said no,
the changes won't make it faster. And then now he's
come out and responded to that. Zaria.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, so the PM has had a bit to say
just getting people up to speed this morning. It's clear
he's not happy. I mean, here's a little bit about
what he's had to say in terms of the Commission's
advice about those electoral changes.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
We expect them to speed up the voting pretty simple.
You don't just move it back two weeks and then
say we're going to expect with the same deadline we're
living in twenty twenty five. And I just suggest that
vote can be counted a hell of a lot faster
than what we've experienced in New Zealand. So go look
at other Western economies around the world and how fast
they count their vote. We must be the slowest folk
on the planet.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
And also worth pointing out here the regulatory impact Statement
on the policy says that Paul Goldsmith, who's the Minister
of Justice, expressed an expectation the vote count should be
depleted within fourteen days, so that is two weeks We've
also had an update from the Electoral Commission on the
Swan Ryan Chief Electoral Officer Carl Lacane has put out
a statement saying we understand how important it is to

(02:13):
deliver a timely election result. He says it's also critically
important that any result we deliver is correct and all
the necessary checks are undertaken so the public can trust that.
He says, a growing number of special votes is slowing
the process, but get this, we can give assurance that
we are working hard on strategies to deliver election results faster,

(02:34):
while Professor d Knight, who's an academic at Victoria University
in Wellington, says the Prime Minister needs to take much
more care here in terms of for obvious constitutional reasons.
He's saying, ministers cannot give formal directions to a body
like the Commission, and nor should ministers with these kind
of casual and pointed remarks about their wishes or their expectations.

(02:55):
And just now this a spokesperson for the Prime Minister
has come back with a state saying the PM was
reflecting New Zealander's views on the core role of the
Electoral Commission.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
There okay, and now Winston Peter's Foreign Minister announcement from
him at the Uien tomorrow morning our time.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, so, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, he's in New York.
He's been meeting with world leaders this week ahead of
confirmation of that final position on a Palestinian state. He's
previously told media he's been planning to listen and hear
all of those arguments on the matter ahead of sort
of finalizing the decision. We understand there will be one
single decision on behalf of the government. We're expecting that

(03:35):
speech to take place late tomorrow morning. Previously, the Prime
Minister has said that recognition of a Palestinian state is
a matter of when, not if. In recent days, as
we will have seen, world leaders the likes of the UK, Canada,
France and Australia have put support behind a Palestinian state
and formal recognition of it. Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin

(03:55):
Netta Yahu says quote there will be no Palestinian states.
It does seem like a position from New Zealand will
be made clear tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
All right, Zari, thank you for that. Zara Howe Politics
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