The Huddle: Does the Government's energy announcement go far enough?

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! 

The Government finally unveiled its energy reform plan after plenty of anticipation. What did we make of it? Does it go far enough?

Nigel Latta has passed away - what will we remember about him?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the huddle with us this evening we have Tris
Sharson of Shearson Willis pr and Jack Tame host Q
and A and Saturday Mornings on NEWSTALKSZB. Hello you two.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello Trish.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
That energy plans underwhelming, isn't it?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Oh? I was thinking I heard you mentioned Fraser winner
a recently and I was reflecting on the opening line
of one of the lines that he had in his
piece that appeared in the Herald on this and you know,
the statement was that power crises end political careers and

(00:33):
that every politician in New Zealand should be worried about
keeping the lights on. And I think, you know, the
difficulty is when you look at the politics of this,
it feels to me like another potentially lowest common denominator
outcome because of the tension of the National Party being

(00:55):
caught between act on one side, who wants to advertise
the lot in Electricity and New Zealand First on the
other side, who want to nationalize the lot. So we've
ended up with a lot of sort of huffing and
puffing for several months, but nothing really to come out

(01:18):
of it. And certainly, you know, from from what I
can see, there is no there's certainly no immediate relief
to power prices.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
But yeah, carry on, carry on, I'm just.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Going to say.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
But the other thing to remember is that, in my
view in New Zealand, in the last sort of five
or six years, we have fallen into a simplistic trap
of shouting about structural separation as the as the fix
to everything. And in this case, there is no evidence

(01:56):
that that that I can see that the government could
rely on on if it went down such a sort
of nuclear option path. There is no evidence to say
that that in fact would bring power prices down.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
No, I agree with you, Jack, What do you make
of the whole thing?

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, my question is, can either of you name any
any person with skin in the game, or any group
that's happy about this? Just seems to me like the
universal feedback today has been that.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
The gent tailors are stoked, and as are shareholders who
are happy that the shares went.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Up fair point, fair point. But certainly the major major
energy users unhappy. The business groups aren't happy, the unions
aren't happy. I'm not happy looking at my power bill.
I mean, it does seem like, at least from the
changes of announced to day, that there are not going
to be really significant changes to the cost of electricity
anytime sometimes, anytime soon. It's pretty obvious. I think that

(02:59):
we need to find some sort of way to massively
incentivize generation in a way that it hasn't been generated
for a long time. Successive governments, I would iag, you've
been responsible for that. I don't think this is going
to majorly shift the dial. And I think they're running
a bit of a delicate political game here, because if
you look at this, you look at the you know,

(03:20):
the changes announced by supermarket. Will it's ask the supermarket
study that kind of thing. If the economy is still
in a really tough place in eight or ten months time,
people are feeling the cost of living in a big
way going into another winter, They'll be looking at the
government and say, hang on, what did you do to
help me on two of the biggest things that affect
my cost of living energy prices and food prices. I

(03:40):
think there is, you know, the potential for some political
vulnerability there. So it's interesting to see, well, Will.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
There's no doubt that one of the outcomes from today's
announcement is that it is really given or really short
up what I think will be a big election plank
for New Zealand First next year, you know, and you've
already heard Shane Jones coming out and sort of talking

(04:10):
words to that effect. But you know, imagine we're in
winter next year heading into the election. Things aren't going
well and we've got a dry winter and we're worried
about keeping the lights on, let alone paying for the power.
You know, New Zealand First are going to be all over.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
This, Trish. We're going to have a dry winter next winter,
aren't we? Well I'm not from No No, but we are.
Why aren't we?

Speaker 3 (04:37):
My powers are? I can't I can't predict that, but no,
but I.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Listen to it. Here here my thinking on this at
the moment. We have had below average snowfall, right, and
so what happens is that it melts over summer, but
there's not that much to the hydro dams aren't that
full next year, So that means we are going we
like next year might be really hairy. And to your point, Trish,
actually to Jack's point as well, we're going to go
into it. We're going to have a stink old winter

(05:03):
again with all of these mills closing down because the
energy prices are high and we're going to turn around
and go yeah, and so when Simon announced that thing
last October, it didn't do anything. What are you guys
actually doing? Isn't that what's going to happen?

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Well? And isn't this? Isn't this the big problem that
it's hard for New Zealanders to get their head around
because we are constantly told we are living in a
country with all of these amazing benefits, including that we
have all of this renewable energy, and yet we are

(05:36):
having to deal with the risk that we can't keep
the lights on through through a winter. And so I
think for most people that's where this whole issue just
doesn't stat totally.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Now, Jack, you are my resident climate lovey, So how
I got to test this with you to just sense
check with you on this?

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah? You are how much Loda? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Giving me an Jack?

Speaker 1 (06:00):
And this chee Jack or now you're now you're turning
into hypocrite hate No, but listen, how would you how
much would you flip out if they took electricity out
of the ets to make it cheap before us?

Speaker 2 (06:12):
I wouldn't be happy about it at all because I think, Yeah,
I mean, I think the ETS has other problems.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
But then when your power bill came down by I
don't Let's say your power bill comes down by twenty percent,
fifteen percent. Would you be happy then?

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah? Oh well, I'm sure I would be. I'm sure
I'd be happy with the with the short term benefit,
no doubt, But I mean I'd be much happier in
the spirit of a cleaner emissions profile. We massively, massively
invested in other renewable But Jack, you're.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Failing to understand the problem.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
The problem one line, Give me one line as a
resident climate lover, and then do you know that the
world at the moment solar is now so cheap that
the world is putting on the equivalent and generation capacity
of Musicaland's entire generation capacity every five and a bit
days in solarle.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Our problem is not the renewable stuff every five days.
Our problem is not renewable. Our problem is firm in capacity,
which is colon gas. That's our problem.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
That's a problem. But that is no, that's that's for
an energy security perspective, but from but from a getting
your powerable down perspective, you just need to be generating farm.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
No, it is also your power no, it's also your
power bill problem. Is it absolutely is? No, it is
it is your power I have been proven to be
technologically in it today. Do you use your phone to
pay for things?

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah? Do you not?

Speaker 1 (07:36):
No? No? How long have you been doing this?

Speaker 3 (07:39):
What you don't use? Like?

Speaker 2 (07:41):
You don't have Apple? No? Well?

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Like is that the thing when you put the credit
card on the phone and then you tap it on
the f poss machine?

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Do you use the physical critic?

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yes? No, don't tell me you do this as well.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
I'm surprised you're not Morse coding out the show hither?

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Okay? Are you for real?

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (08:03):
I was shocked, Trish. I was reading today in the
British papers that fifty percent of the UK adults are
doing this and in my age bracket is like fifty
nine and I don't do it and I'm shocked.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Hey, you need to get that.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Under you're so enthusiastic about oil and gas.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, because can't how I get Okay? All right, guys,
I feel like it's going to be my task tonight.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Jack.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Can you come over and help me with the police.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, you could do this. You know. I hate to
break it to you, but you know the government's got
some big plans about digital driver's life as well. You
know it's long you're going to be able to live
your life with nothing more than that phone in your pocket.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, my watch on my wrist, Trish, have you you
know what here?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
They just go on pop online tonight and sign up
for one of the senior net classes.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
L Tri, you're a hideous person. Have you got any
of the Nigel Latter books? Trish? Did you raise your
son on any of them?

Speaker 3 (08:56):
I have to admit this. I adopted a read nothing
approach through my entire parenting career, including when I was pregnant,
and I found that a very useful approach because you
couldn't ever think you were doing anything wrong. But having

(09:18):
watched some of Nigel's programs, what I really loved about him,
and I think this is tough to get right, but
he managed to spire confidence and positivity to parents and
others and what they were doing without coming across as
being pious. And maybe that was one of my aversions

(09:41):
to reading books on these matters, because often they make
you feel like you're doing everything wrong. And I'm quite
a sort of a practical person who thinks I'm quite capable,
but I thought in the way he managed to communicate
this stuff, it was pretty pretty clever and amazing.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, I think that's a fair point. Jack. Did you
ever he would have interviewed him, wouldn't you?

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Do?

Speaker 3 (10:02):
You know?

Speaker 2 (10:02):
I actually haven't, And I'm actually sad to say I
was scheduled to interview him. I was actually she dul
to interview him tomorrow, and a couple of weeks ago
the interview got pushed back, and yeah, I was going
to be talking to him about his new books. So
it was really really sad to see the news today.
I just think he I think I always think it's
remarkable when people are successful in one field and then

(10:24):
part way through their life, you know, like kind of
into middle age, they have this massive shift and move
into a completely barely related field. And I just think,
you know, it kind of spoke so much about his
communicative capacity that he was able to bring his field
of expertise expertise to the matters both VARA's books and

(10:45):
via TV like he was a very very skillful TV
presenter and someone who hadn't had much experience in it.
And Yeah, I just think it's kind of rare that
you come across you know, talents like that where people
can have expertise in one field and then come into
a kind of show show a pony businesslike television and
excel as well, and clearly he did. So Yeah we
am there.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, thank you very much, guys, appreciate it and thanks
for the advice on the cell phone tri Sharson, Jack taym.
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