Keep on Digging

Written By: - Date published: 3:44 pm, January 30th, 2025 - 30 comments
Categories: accountability, australian politics, blogs, Christopher Luxon, climate change, Culture wars, energy, Environment, immigration, Media, national, nz first, Politics, racism, racism, Ricardo Menendez, Satire, Shane Jones, winston peters - Tags: , ,

Jones calls climate change ‘woke’ and says, ‘Send the Mexicans home’.

NZ First – Kiwi Battlers.

Say what you like about NZ First. Go on; I’ll wait. Get it all off your chest.

Sure, they’ve become the party of the pro-Covid Cookers. Entertaining conspiracies and taking it to the man by re-electing our longest-serving, pinstripe-wearing party leader who has chowed through troughs of baubles – as the anti-establishment option.

But you know, when it comes down to it, they’ve got good old Kiwi values and are not afraid to say it how it is. You know, those things we all think privately but are too afraid to voice due to political correctness, right?

They’ve said some crazy things about Māori, about trans people, and, well, all sorts of folks, really. But they don’t really mean it, do they?

It’s just a silly act for voters who watch too much Fox News. Do you really think Shane Jones is worried about seeing someone’s genitals in a public bathroom? He probably wishes he could still see his own.

Ah Jones, Shane Jones, the man who sees himself as the spiritual leader of NZ’s red cap wearers, adopting any position that will piss off the woke left. Sometimes, you wonder if anything of the original young man with such promise remains.

You’ll get no argument from me that Casey Costello is corrupt beyond comprehension. In any other political party—maybe even ACT—her behaviour would be seen as an affront to all that is decent. Meanwhile, Winston Peters appears to have wandered off the reservation altogether.

Still, there’s one thing you can count on about the party. They’ll always stand up for salt of the earth, Kiwi battlers. And so it was yesterday.

All is forgiven, Shane, I thought. You little beauty, finally someone willing to stick it to those Aussie banks for shafting we Kiwis all these years with barely a pretence of competition that might lower interest rates—or profits.

I was confused about why the headline referred to banks as being ‘woke‘. Still, I guess when you’re Shane Jones, everything and everyone is woke. Except for Winston, obviously—the old man hasn’t handed over the keys just yet. It’s best to show a bit of respect – he likes that sort of thing.

Turns out Shane Jones wasn’t going into battle for everyday Kiwis, you know, the people who elect him. Nope, it turns out that he feels more compelled to fight the corner of the poor defenceless… Can you guess what it is?

Fossil Fuel companies.
Yes, Jones is spending his time in government trying to ensure that Australian banks treat businesses fairly, even if the borrowing company operates in a sector, such as fossil fuels, where the bank has chosen not to invest.

You know, on account of the fact that climate change is starting to alter the conditions for life on this planet and jeopardise how long they remain suitable for us.

To be fair to the banks, they’ve probably got people in departments who deal with insurance saying, “We’re going to take a bath on the impacts of climate change, and you want to give these guys money to wreck the planet even faster? Are you mad? Why don’t you go and lend some money to tobacco companies – we also sell life insurance, you know. FFS!”

But no, Shane and his Aussie mates want to ensure that those who have become immensely rich in return for sacrificing our descendants’ future quality of life get access to credit. It’s what people elected him for.

Are you serious?
What next, Jones? Maybe put some pressure on KiwiSaver funds to invest in landmines or other armaments?

Sorry for the false equivalence. Clearly, fossil fuels are going to kill a hell of a lot more people than land mines ever did.

In fact, fossil fuel companies are bringing the minefield to you. Whose turn is it this year to be struck by climate change? Oh, look, it’s Northland – Jones country; at the risk of sounding insensitive, might that be karma?

BOOM!

So why has NZ First’s Shane Jones joined forces with Australian MPs to fight ‘woke’ banks? (Please note the linked article in the Herald is paywalled).

Well, back in 2021, when most world governments considered Climate Change to be real, banks signed up to a pledge to drive emissions to net zero. As a result, the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) would look less favourably at funding fossil fuels.

Nowadays, politicians have moved on, and especially with Trump’s re-election, the old considerations of diversity, equity, inclusion, and taking responsibility for environmental impacts have fallen out of favour. Within a month, America’s six largest banks left the NZBA, and four large Canadian banks also left.

Now, Shane’s mates over the ditch—who are MPs from the opposition Liberal/National parties and not the Australian government—want the ANZ, CBA, Westpac, and NAB to leave the alliance, saying it “risks hurting the competitiveness and access to finance for Australian mining, manufacturing, and farming businesses.”

Unfortunately for the good folks over at ATLAS, the Aussies still have a left-wing government. One that is still annoyingly focused on people and the planet rather than profits, so what do they do to keep the rest of the old Five Eyes crew in check?

I imagine they thought to themselves, “Who’s our local rep in the area?” as another replied, “A bloke called Jones, he’ll say anything he’s told and doesn’t care how much he annoys people. In fact, he seems to enjoy it. He can’t wait to start wrecking the environment, and he doesn’t even care about the oil and gas; his profile says he does it just for the thrill of winding up woke lefties.”

Speaking of which…

“Send the Mexicans home.”

Following on from National Minister Todd McClay yelling, “You’re not in Mexico now”, last year, Shane Jones said, “Hold my cerveza,” and started yelling about sending Mexicans home as if he was enjoying one of his MAGA wet dreams.

“Trump! Trump! Send the Mexicans home!” he jeered, and “Call Mr Trump! Call Mr Trump!”

If you’ve missed the resumption of parliament this week with Drunkle Winston shouting at clouds and pretty much everything else, then you might enjoy the following. Or something. Sheesh.

As a result of these actions, the Greens have written to the Prime Minister and the Speaker.

NZ First leader Winston Peters decided his best course of action was to avoid telling the truth about his comments to Green MPs Lawrence Xu-Nan and Francisco Hernandez when he said they should “show some gratitude” for being in New Zealand.

“Of course, it’s not anti-immigrant sentiment. Why would you come to that stupid conclusion?” said Winston and prattled on without apology before ending with, “If you can’t take it, go somewhere else. Or are you too soft for that?”

Mexico-born Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March said, “People who wish to cause harm and violence on migrant communities end up feeling empowered and emboldened when they see people in positions of power saying those outwardly racist and xenophobic things.”

“We are already seeing attacks on migrant communities on places like public transport and other parts of the community.”

March added that NZ First was “straight up taking a page out of the Trump book,” and it’s hard to argue with that.

If we had a Prime Minister with any integrity whatsoever, he would rein in the Trumpian behaviour of Jones and Peters. But we don’t, and that’s the point. The absolute vacuum of leadership in Aotearoa since Luxon came to power means that racist bully boys like Shane and Winston can do whatever they want.

The bloke who is supposed to be in charge simply turns a blind eye, probably while having a chuckle to himself. And again, the Prime Minister is an enabler, just as he has been with ACT, normalising racism, which will only encourage it to spread.

Here are some more words from Ricardo, which I very much agree with:

“This is a clear pattern of behaviour by government ministers, and as I’ve said, this is a matter for the prime minister. He needs to show leadership and be really clear that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable because it emboldens people outside of these four walls who wish to cause harm to our migrant communities and wish to delegitimise migrant communities’ participation in our democracy.”

Well said, that man. I reckon he demonstrates Kiwi values far more than Jones or Peters, regardless of where he was born.

As for the PM, could he finally grow a pair?

What do you think about Climate Change being woke and some of our most senior politicians telling immigrants who have every right to be here, and to be in parliament, to go home?

If you’d like to read from more from me you can find all my writing here: Nick’s Kōrero

30 comments on “Keep on Digging ”

  1. Patricia Bremner 1

    Those comments by both MPs, Jones and Peters are othering and belittling. A form of bullying. Peters comments talking about equality are laughable. If he thinks newcomers are second class citizens, he clearly does not believe in equality. It is just a political flag to distract from equity and fairness, which they believe to be woke ( or weak).

    Thanks for contributing Nick.

  2. lprent 2

    Sure, they’ve become the party of the pro-Covid Cookers. Entertaining conspiracies and taking it to the man by re-electing our longest-serving, pinstripe-wearing party leader who has chowed through troughs of baubles – as the anti-establishment option.

    The problem is that they have always been like that to one degree or another. The only time that they looked fully like a real party was before 1998 when NZF split into the Maori faction and the Winston faction. But they fell apart because of the MMP threshold after polls showed that a party formed on pandering to all micro factions was not good at winning parliamentary seats.

    There have been reasonably sane periods in the parties history, but I get the impression that they were mostly about someone in the party actually starting to be strategic. Anne Martin and Tracey Martin come to mind. But over the years I have seen those I considered to be competent people come and go in NZF. I saw a few at the times I went to have a look at their meetings and conferences.

    However the amount of silly nutbar does seem to have increased markedly since Shane Jones anointed himself as leader in succession. He is a just a complete and largely incompetent nutbar. A incompetent blowhard with no ability to do do anything substantive. I came to that conclusion after listening to him once while he was a Labour MP, and have never had cause to change my opinion.

    But it does seem to be a problem that arises when you're trying to scrape up small segments of votes to get over the 5% threshold.

    I'd like to try the 4% threshold that the royal commission advised. NZF, Act, and Greens have reliably gotten there over the decades and I suspect that it'd make the smaller parties more stable and thinking about the longer term more than they are now. The period when NZF was quite productive in the political landscape was when Winston kept winning Tauranga and not having to go on a political holiday.

    I think that 4% is also a good level to eliminate inherent political insecurity, allow us to ditch the gerrymanders of places like Epsom electorate and Act, and is a high enough bar that people have to actually have a real working party to gets seats in parliament. We really need to have stable minor parties AND not have the chaos that makes the fully proportional Knesset the dysfunctional ditherers who cannot make coherent decisions.

    • benby 2.1

      Tauiwi here. I first set foot in Aotearoa twenty years ago. Sat in a Korean run internet cafe on upper Queen St. A billboard truck rolled past with election advertising. It was bl**dy Winston having his anti Asian five minutes. My plan (since executed) was to move here with my Asian partner.

      All I thought was, oh, same stupid racism as at home. I'm German.

      I'll outlive Winston.

      • lprent 2.1.1

        It never really dies out. It seems to be an instinctive pattern with humans, and mostly currently restricted to between humans.

        I suspect that the first time racism will die back a lot is when we find a competitive intelligence to compare our species to.

        Look at the general alarm that a lot of people are starting to express about something as dumb as large language model 'AI'.

  3. Dennis Frank 3

    I agree that Shane & Winston are riding the wave of Trumpism but suspect they are resonating with his style rather than anticipating substance via MAGA.

    Make Aotearoa Great Again would be an excellent political slogan for aging boomers nostalgic for socialism. Much of what made it great the first time was radical politics too, so bringing in all those who have read the political history of this country makes two sectors of our electorate likely to support it. Yet NZF still aren't using it. So I reckon they ain't serious about Trumpism. Just pretenders like Labour.

    • Jilly Bee 3.1

      Pffffft – Dennis, who aren't pretenders in your esteemed estimation. I would like to see some old fashioned socialism sprouting forth again, but NOT with the slogan MAKING AOTEAROA GREAT AGAIN – anyway, the people in your so called demographics would object to the use of AOTEAROA anyway.

      • Dennis Frank 3.1.1

        Well, boomers have always had a substantial portion comfortable with Maori place-names & my peers tend to exemplify that. Aotearoa blends progressive & traditional folk increasingly, as shown by popular usage. Shane & Winston aren't tuned in enough to see the potential in the brand though.

      • weka 3.1.2

        … anyway, the people in your so called demographics would object to the use of AOTEAROA anyway.

        I'd like to see some research on that, but I suspect that is not true. Obviously some would, but Boomers have been in charge for a lot of the time that te reo Māori renaissance happened, including in government departments, schools and so on.

        btw, I think Make Aotearoa Great Again is satire.

    • SPC 3.2

      NZF nostalgia for the past, is the youth of their oldies "1950's-1960's era" assimilationism.

      Thus the removal of the Treaty from legislation.

  4. gsays 4

    This post brings something I've been wrestling with a while, into focus.

    An ongoing theme is the balance between 'purity' of lefties politics and the price of progress.

    Eg, Winston may deliver rail enabled ferries. I can't see any other politician likely or capable. The price of that is these ill considered, populist out-bursts.

  5. Mike the Lefty 5

    I guess that NZ First must see the election of Trump as a divine sign that the bigger an asshole you are, the more people love you.

  6. SPC 6

    Jones attack on woke globalism is telling.

    NZF, apart from being the champion of golden oldies (Peters seeking to ride the boomer vote well past retirement age) has always tied its horse to being friendly to local business, and somewhat nationalist on immigration. Of late a champion of investment in the provinces.

    It is doing this because it is

    1.part of a pro immigration for growth government (to replace locals going to Oz because of government layoffs, low wage policy and anti-tenant salute to rentier economy).

    2.pro international mining/carbon extraction business, when this would not be deliver a result until it would undermine our ability to meet our Paris Accord commitments.

    3.in a government planning to sell public assets and allow industrial scale foreign investment.

    Which will trash its brand.

    So it is attempting to reboot as illiberal and reactionary. Such as base favour to tobacco and transform its nationalism into one of advocacy for team assimilation (our retreat from modern nation in accord with the Treaty and UNDRIP).

    But ACT is on this because it wants an end to any nationalist block on foreign investor economic dominance.

    Thus in the end NZP is participant in a course where all, settler majority and Maori both, are to be betrayed. Leaving more of them moving over to Oz and replaced by foreign migrants in a nation without the first world public commons they might have expected. They would in turn go across the Tasman and be replaced by those with no such illusions about the rentier economy they would be in.

    • lprent 6.1

      So it is attempting to reboot as illiberal and reactionary. Such as base favour to tobacco and transform its nationalism into one of advocacy for team assimilation (our retreat from modern nation in accord with the Treaty and UNDRIP).

      But ACT is on this because it wants an end to any nationalist block on foreign investor economic dominance.

      But Act also want the reactionary and socially illiberal voter space for the same reasons you only have to look at the attack lines of their closely bound (by ATLAS) brother organisation The Taxpayers Union. The TTU spend most of their time railing against policies that don't favour the reactionary and socially illiberal, and against anything that gives those more than they think that they deserve. Of course that is all for votes.

      They consider that only reactionary meatheads deserve to get any support. Which is kind of hilarious when you look at the reluctant but real support that the economists at the other ATLAS franchise at NZ Initiative have. They have to admit that having poorly educated sick disenfranchised people as possible employees is a really stupid idea.

      In effect the Act party is a chimera. Economically liberal to favour their donors and socially illiberal to collect the stupid voting against others getting a fair deal.

      NZ First does at least have a more coherent position. Reactionary, inward looking, and protectionist.

      Australia for all of its faults and climate issues* is looking more rational to me at present – because I see nothing in the economic and social shit-stirring of the current coalition that offers any real chance of growth to cope with the demographic shitstorm we are about to hit.

      * I must find out if my desperate co-worker in Queensland actually had someone come and fix her aircond today. She has been going through successive weeks of 30+C outside days, and much higher inside. It looks like aircond maintenance in Aussie is a coming profession…

  7. tWig 7

    Thanks Nick and lprent. I'd just read nick's column via the Standard feedlist, and thought of posting a link. But you bet me to it, in a much better way.

  8. Ad 8

    This government is 50% done and still hasn't landed the big deals that Playas oughta be Playin'.

    Show me the munny or shut the fuck up.

    • Macro 8.1

      Like its school lunches they will be late, non-existent, and yuck.

    • Patricia Bremner 8.2

      Or, end up costing us more!!

      Like the Waihi Gold mine, with a growing toxic waste pond, poisoning the land it is on, and another being planned.

      The clean up left for future generations with no current budget to fix a huge problem.

      These cuckoos are happily pooping in the nest, and saying we are odd if we don't, and worse David's RSB Bill will give them every lever to deny Governments from rectifying other damaging extractions.

      The nasty rhetoric in Parliament is a distraction for us, diverting attention. imo.

      • Ad 8.2.1

        The Waihi tailings pile and the Macraes tailings pile are pretty much their own mountain ranges now.

        The new one going into Bendigo will effectively remove a small mountain range and turn it into another large tailing line.

        • Macro 8.2.1.1

          Nothing like digging arsenic out of the ground and piling it up to make a nice big toxic mountain – for what?

          The tell tale signs for a seam of gold is the silver white arsenopyrite in the quartz.

          Ancient hot water systems formed deep in the earths crust. Arsenic and gold are often related in hard rock gold mines, where gold often occurs as tiny blobs within the arsenopyrite. During gold mining the gold is removed, and arsenic is left behind. Historically the arsenic was washed down the river and out to sea, but now arsenic-bearing tailings are stored in tailing dams.

          https://www.otago.ac.nz/geology/research/environmental-geology/metals-in-the-new-zealand-environment/arsenic

          And the crap is there for later generations to deal with – they are never going to be able to clean it up. Here is one example

          Toxic heavy metal contamination to waterways from the Tui Mine near Te Aroha by acid mine drainage has been measured at an alarming 5000kg each year, even thought the mine closed nearly 40 years ago.

          In 2007, 5000 kg of heavy metals – zinc, iron, manganese and 100 kg of arsenic, cadmium, and lead was released from the Tui mine. The Tui and Tunakohoia streams which flow into the Waihou River, and from there into the Firth of Thames, are totally devoid of fish and invertebrate life and are unsafe for humans.

          This annual dose of contamination is likely to have been occurring at similar levels since the Tui mine closed in 1973. Heavy metals are continuously released into the waterways from approximately 135,000 tonnes of mine waste (tailings) and two small mining tunnels.

          https://watchdog.org.nz/true-extent-of-toxic-legacy-from-coromandel-mine/

  9. Ad 9

    Minister Jones has a much better shot at doubling gold exports, even if the first major gold field isn't excavating by the end of this term. With gold mining, the jobs pay massively. They are hard and long hours, but it's a very big long term play that Otago communities are well familiar with.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360565722/government-aims-double-mineral-exports-3b-year-next-decade

    Santana Minerals believes the hills between Bendigo and Ophir could hold $4.4 billion worth of gold. They have been given all the acceleration they could possibly need by being in the Fast Track Act list.

    Unlike coal, with gold he won't have to worry about a bank being prepared to handle their money.

    • Muttonbird 9.1

      You mean the Dunstan Mountains?

      Looks like someone's already been through there and gave up. But hell yeah, in case they missed anything let's dig up the rest of it to line the pockets of Australian magnates.

      • Ad 9.1.1

        Yes the Bendigo area was mined for about 50 years intensively, and dribbled on thereafter.

        What locals want to see is the treatment lake location and scale.

      • Patricia Bremner 9.2.1

        My Mother lived in Waihi for 83 years and never found a grain of it!!! So yes Macro, the Mine sustained jobs and businesses of the type which caused hardship and grief. PYE Radio and TV, left a cancer legacy and infertility from cathode rays, Gadabouts shoe factory meanly paid hard work with questionable shoe dyes, an a Cycle Helmet Factory where women worked in clouds of fibre glass. Then there was the toxic arsenic used to dissolve the quartz rock to get the gold. The waste went into the river for years, followed by the construction of the toxic sludge ponds between Waihi and the Beach. The Waihi Council was amalgamated into the Hauraki District Council, where farming issues were more important than toxic waste and subsidence in Waihi. Did the people of Waihi get value? Hell no!! But the overseas shareholders got really really rich.
        My cousin Maree Warr nee Lawrence, died 4/11/24 sculpted the miner statue which pays homage to the original miners. It stands in the main street and is photographed by locals and people from around the world. It is of course made of bronze not gold.

        • Macro 9.2.1.1

          Thanks Patricia for that account. I myself am very familiar with Waihi as well.

          How much does the country get back from the enormous wealth extracted by these mining companies?

          The royalty paid for gold mined in New Zealand is an ad valorem royalty, which is a percentage of the net sales revenue. The Crown Minerals Act 1991 requires permit holders to pay royalties to the Crown for minerals that are part of the Crown Mineral Estate, including gold.

          How much is the royalty?

          • The royalty for gold is 2% of the net sales revenue if the accounting profits are less than or equal to $2 million.
          • In 2023, the total royalties from gold were $9.23 million, which was a 19.6% increase from the previous year.

          Who owns the gold in New Zealand?

          • The Crown automatically owns all gold in New Zealand.
          • A permit is required to prospect, explore, or mine for gold.

          What are the other fees associated with mining in New Zealand?

          • There are application fees and annual fees for prospecting permits.
          • Mining companies also pay company tax and local business rates.

          Do the mining companies clear up their mess when they finish their operations?

          Yeah right!

          Review of Waihi Martha Mine Pit Rim ...

          And does the world need any more gold?

          Total above-ground stock (end-2023): 212,582 tonnes

          1. Jewellery ~96,487t, 45%
          2. Bars and coins (including gold backed ETFs) ~47,454t, 22%
          3. Central banks ~36,699t, 17%
          4. Other ~31,943t, 15%
          5. Proven reserves ~59,000t

          https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/how-much-gold

          In other words around half of all the gold ever mined is now stored"above ground" underground in bank vaults.

          • Obtrectator 9.2.1.1.1

            My BS detector rang like Big Ben on seeing that phrase "percentage of the net sales revenue". Creative accounting can whittle away a hell of a lot of revenue before a token amount of "net" is declared. Ask any movie actor who neglected to demand a share of the gross.

    • Mike the Lefty 9.3

      There's gold in them thar hills is literally true in this case.

      But unless you have some device that can concentrate it in a smaller area its difficult and bloody expensive to extract.

      Jones waving his magic wand and saying abracada will not help.

  10. Mike the Lefty 10

    It is obviously not understood by these self styled economic geniuses that banks usually only lend to ventures that have a fair chance of success. If the numbers and projections don't add up then they won't do it.

    It's always someone else's fault isn't it?

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