The Country 27/02/25: Shane Jones talks to Jamie Mackay

Today we find the Matua and Prince of the Provinces in the Solomon Islands - but what is he up to? Today he's got "chocolate teapot" electricity gentailers along with the "woke" banks in his sights. We also ponder the Paris Accord and whether we should be in or out? And will he ever get the chance to run the country?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
That you like. Jane Jones is a man who wears
many hats in this government. I don't know what hat
he's wearing today on WhatsApp from the Solomon Islands, the
Minister of digging it up and Damning it up. Hello, Shane,
what are you up to?

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm up here not figuratively catching fish, but working with
the Pacific governments to ensure that the fisheries narrative coming
out of the Pacific is driven by economic empowerment as
much as sustainability, because we spend one hundred million dollars
every three years with the Pacific governments helping them not

(00:36):
only put up guardrails around fishing, but to make money
from fishing. Because as you know, I've annoyed all the
greenies and we have allowed the fishing industry out of
New Zealand to do some more bottom trawling. We're not
going to let obscure pieces of coral and sponge undermine
the presence of New Zealand industry in the Pacific. Those
sort of unicorn kissing ideas have seen this seen the

(00:59):
light today.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Air to hell with the environment. Hey, we should be
less worried about fish in the Pacific and more worried
about the Chinese, shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
We Well, it's a very sad development that the minister
are the Prime Minister of Raratonga has devalued New Zealand citizenship.
He's a New Zealand citizen. He had a constitutional obligation
to engage with our leader, Winston Peters and Thunder's knows

(01:28):
at the Rangatira. Winston and look some of the words
coming out of the Raratong in Parliament, I think a
very polarizing. They show disrespect from New Zealand. And I
think that a lot of the people making those outlandish

(01:50):
statesmans from Raratonga their own background would not withstand robust scrutiney.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Now, we had Nikola Willis on the show yesterday talking
about the Paris Climb, an agreement or record, whatever you
call it, and Winston said on this show a week
or so ago that we should be out of it.
David Seymour said, look, the punishment for leaving it will
be less than of our cost for staying in. But
Nicolas assured us yesterday that New Zealand First and Act

(02:18):
were fully behind us staying in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
What do you say, well, we need to show fidelity
through our coalition agreements to each other, but come the
election were free agents New Zealand first. In the last
election we said that we were not going to be
marched to the altar of climate cultism in order to

(02:43):
burnish our international credentials. And the reality is we need
to fight a campaign on it. We need to convince
New Zealanders that the costs of the current mix of
climate internationally driven policy is too burdensome and it's going
to try much of New Zealand into pauperism.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
So it's going to be every man for himself come
election time, and.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
So it should be the key. We need to see
a menu of ideas. That doesn't mean that we don't
accept that there has to be a whole bunch of
investments so we can cope with more volatile weather and
climate uncertainty. But don't for a moment think by taxing
every cow in Canterbury you're going to change the weather
in Gisbon. That level of naivety is going to have

(03:29):
ruinous consequences on you and I.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Now you're spending a bit of time off shore, you're
going to rack up some airpoints for your Christmas holidays,
Sean Jones, because you're off to Canada for a mining conference,
you'll literally be like a peg and.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Mark, Yes, I had the role of reinvigorating the mining sector.
I believe I'm delivering on it. We are also going
to salvage the oil and gas sector. Today there was
some major announcements made by the Chocolate Tip otherwise known
as the Electricity Authority. Hopefully it'll turn into a silver

(04:04):
teapot if we can tame the behavior of the gent
tailors and get them to accept that they have two roles.
Maintain energy supply, boost international boost in, destroy industrial competitiveness,
and keep power affordable for our garden variety. Kiwis and
I don't believe any longer that the model dominated by

(04:26):
the gent taylors is fit for the New Zealand economy.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, good on you for getting stuck into them and
the banks. We support you one hundred percent on this one.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Now.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Nikola Willis has also come out. I don't know if
you've caught up with this one. In the Solomon Islands,
maybe we could be taxing sports and community clubs just
so we can get to the likes of Sanitarium and
Destiny Church. Now, I'm all for taxing those two, but
I don't want my Riversdale rugby club Shane Jones to
be taxed.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, she's announced that we're going to have a broad
review and study into the matter. I don't think that
there's anything wrong with checking whether the policy is fit
for purpose. Let's face it, we need fiscal firepower to
redevelop our military, build hospitals, and we need to ensure

(05:16):
that the tax exempt status of Knightahoo, the Brethrens, the
Sanitarium and the others doesn't represent an unfair advantage to
those firms over ordinary firms that are paying tax through
in every direction. And I don't think it's a bad
idea that she inquire into that, because that's what the

(05:37):
Aussies have done. And let's face it, the tax exempts,
the taxation exempts status of a number of these charitable organizations.
They're not down at heel rugby clubs, the knighta who
is the most powerful corporation in the South Island. The
Brethren Investments, they have about twelve billion dollars spread across

(06:02):
the Australasian war chest. And I'm sure that they understand
if you're a citizen, and you have to contribute to
the community and you should pay your fair share.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Absolutely, just very quickly before I go. David Seymour's running
the country at the moment, Prime Minister, Luxeon and Winston
are out of the country. How many people need to
be out of the country before you get a crack
at the top job.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
I rather suspect that I'll be well down the pecking
order before dear Leader puts them in charge of the
New Zealand economy.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
That would be a fox and a henhouse. See you later.
Thanks for your time from the Solomon Islands.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
See you mate. Bye.