On election night, Jacinda Ardern said, “To those amongst you who may not have supported Labour before… I say thank you. We will not take your support for granted. And I can promise you, we will be a party that governs for every New Zealander.”
I wonder if Jacinda Ardern understands that governing for every New Zealander means setting aside policies that are driven by extremism in favour of those that represent the public interest?
Two pressing issues come to mind that are in this ‘extremist’ category. The first is a demand by Maori separatists for the Prime Minister to abolish a pillar of local democracy, petition rights. And the second is Labour’s plan to implement their impossible climate goal of “100% renewable electricity generation by 2030”.
Firstly, calls on the Government to abolish local government petition rights are increasing as activists attempt to prevent community group around the country from vetoing council decisions to introduce Maori wards.
Whenever Maori wards are introduced the voting system has to be changed to include the Maori electoral roll. That’s why, when Helen Clark’s Labour Government introduced the Maori ward option into the Local Electoral Act in 2001, the constitutional safeguard of petition rights were included to protect communities from attempts by councils to change the electoral system for their own advantage.
This means that if councils decide to alter the voting system – by changing between First Past the Post (FPP) voting and Single Transferable Vote (STV), or by introducing Maori wards and the Maori electoral roll – without first consulting with their community, the community has the power to overturn their decision if 5 percent of electors support a petition to hold a binding referendum.
Andrew Judd, the former mayor of New Plymouth, is driving the campaign to abolish Maori ward petition rights. He was elected Mayor in 2013, and during his term of office not only sought to introduce Maori wards without consulting his community, but to push for half of all council representatives to be Maori: “The reasonable interpretation of the Treaty is that you would have fifty-fifty representation around the table. We should be incorporating the Maori perspective around council tables, and ultimately that would mean up to half the representation each.”
While his council voted for Maori wards, 83 percent of the New Plymouth community opposed them in a referendum. The mayor responded by calling his community ‘racists’. But Maori leaders embraced him, encouraging his advocacy for “50-50 representation between Maori and non-Maori on local authorities to reflect the Treaty of Waitangi partnership”.
Andrew Judd is now travelling the country campaigning for a law change to remove local government petition rights. He also wants to stop the petitions that are currently underway. If he succeeds, this will remove the only safeguard communities have against councils being increasingly radicalised.
The Northern Advocate reported that Andrew Judd is calling on the Prime Minister to take immediate action to abolish local government petition rights: “Legislation change around removing polling over councils’ Maori wards voting needs to be the first cab off the rank at the first sitting of our new Parliament… Changes to the Local Electoral Act need to be made urgently and in a way that makes any Northland polling results null and void.”
In response, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said a law change to abolish petition rights is under consideration. If it goes ahead, it would be in place before the next local government elections in 2022.
As a result, Andrew Judd is now pressuring the Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta to urgently intervene to stop the Maori ward petitions that are presently underway, including those in Whangarei, Kaipara and in the Northland Regional Council area.
A spokesperson for the Minister said work was being done on how to deal with the issue in the short term and an announcement would be made within three weeks.
Maori ward supporters are calling for a polling moratorium to be imposed to prevent communities from overturning their council’s decisions.
Unbelievably, this includes the Northland Regional Council, which is writing to the Minister, not only to support the abolition of petition rights, but to request “a moratorium or the like on the ability to demand a poll”.
If you, or anyone you know, lives in the Northland region and is eligible to support the Northland Regional Council, Whangarei District Council or Kaipara District Council petitions for referenda on the Maori wards, please visit the Democracy Northland website at democracynorthland.co.nz for forms and full details. Please share this information as far and wide as you can!
The reality is that New Zealanders do not want their councils divided by race. Communities want us united by the things we have in common, not divided by our differences. That’s why petition rights should stay.
However, with Local Government New Zealand having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with iwi leaders back in 2015, to work in secret on advancing matters of strategic significance to iwi, including “local democratic representation and decision-making”, it is clear that the pressure on local councils to introduce Maori wards is not going to go away – it will only get stronger.
That’s why a law change is needed – not to remove petition rights, but to remove Maori wards altogether. It’s what National MP Tony Ryall attempted to do in 2006 through a Private Members Bill, the Local Electoral (Repeal of Race-Based Representation) Amendment Bill. National and ACT should be picking up where Tony Ryall left off – supporting an end to race based division within local government.
If Jacinda Ardern is to govern for all New Zealanders, she must not only reject Andrew Judd’s call for removing petition rights, but she should remove Maori wards altogether.
If you feel strongly about this issue, why not share your views with MPs – all of their email addresses can be found HERE.
The second issue of concern is Labour’s extremist plan to generate all of New Zealand’s electricity supplies from renewable sources within ten years – not only to progress our commitment to the United Nations Paris Agreement on Climate Change, but also to satisfy Goal 13 of the United Nations Agenda 2030 – which Jacinda Ardern has embraced: “…my Government is doing something not many other countries have tried. We have incorporated the principles of the 2030 Agenda into our domestic policy-making in a way that we hope will drive system-level actions”.
But achieving 100 percent renewable electricity generation by 2030 is totally unrealistic.
The Minister of Energy Megan Woods explained as much last year, when their goal was to achieve that objective by 2035: “We are confident we can get to our 100% renewable ambition, and are confident new technologies will be developed to help us get there affordably, but we also want to signal we will be pragmatic about this goal and we won’t die in a ditch over the last couple of percent if it places unreasonable costs on households and puts security of supply at risk… That is why we have given ourselves a 16-year lead in to achieve this ambition.”
Their plan to press ahead, five years early and without the benefit of technological development, will undoubtedly lead to failure – and a vast waste of taxpayers’ money.
Even the Government’s Interim Committee on Climate Change warned against such policy extremism, explaining that while around 82 percent of our electricity supplies are currently generated from renewable sources – hydro, wind, solar and geothermal – and that New Zealand is on track to reach 93 percent renewable electricity under a business as usual model, it is not feasible under normal circumstances to take it further.
The problem arises because electricity systems need an emergency generation capacity that can cope with supply shortages and ensure the power stays on when the wind doesn’t blow, the sun doesn’t shine, and the lakes are low. At the present time, the Huntley Power Station fulfils that role, sitting on standby, ready for use in emergencies.
If Huntley is mothballed, there is no reasonable alternative.
The Government is talking about pumped hydro storage or green hydrogen production, but both are highly experimental.
Pumped hydro in particular, has been described as “the stuff of dreams”.
The scheme would require Lake Onslow in Central Otago to be increased in size from 8 square kilometres to 50sqkm, a 24 km long tunnel would then need to be drilled through to the Lake Roxburgh power station. Stored water could then flow from Lake Onslow to Lake Roxburgh generating electricity during power shortages, with water pumped back to Lake Onslow from surpluses in Lakes Roxburgh, Tekapo, and Pukaki, when power prices are low.
But estimates are that such a scheme could never be in service by 2030 – more like 2037: drilling the tunnel would take at least a year, consents two or more years, design and tendering another couple of years, with six years for construction, and three years to fill the lake.
And all of this – at a cost to the public of $4 billion to $5 billion – is to avoid using the Huntley Power Station once in a blue moon during an emergency!
It is sheer madness to put ideology ahead of common sense on such a scale, especially as the surplus electricity capacity would be generated at the bottom of the South Island, leading to major logistical problems transmitting it to the North Island where the greatest demand lies.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, energy expert Bryan Leyland, is highly critical of the 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 plan, warning it would triple the cost of power:
“The Government’s mind-boggling announcement of its intent to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation directly contradicts its own official advisers and would increase residential power prices by 300%.
“The policy would shut down coal and gas-fired generation and geothermal generation would also bite the dust because it also gives off CO2. As a result, nearly 3000 MW of existing cheap and reliable generation would be abandoned. The resulting electricity shortfall would be exacerbated by the government’s policies on electric transport that could easily add 1000 MW to New Zealand electricity demand… Because of the way our electricity market works, residential power prices would be three times higher…
“The pumped storage option would be opposed by environmentalists and is not feasible… The solar power option would cover six times the urban area of Auckland with solar cells…
“The reality is that the government’s ambitions for emissions free power generation are technically, economically and environmentally fraught and would inevitably lead to skyrocketing prices and regular blackouts… New Zealand would soon become a third world country.”
The government has justified bringing forward their 100 percent renewable goal from 2035 to 2030, on the basis that the Covid-19 economic recovery “represents a once in a generation opportunity to reshape New Zealand’s energy system to be more renewable faster, affordable and secure”.
But as the environmentalist Michael Moore explained in his controversial film, Planet of the Humans, renewable energy is a scam. It is not clean and green, nor sustainable, but is more destructive than the energy sources it seeks to replace.
He showed how wind, solar and biofuel projects destroy landscapes and habitats, and he exposed the bogus claims about their benefits, showing how massive solar energy and wind farms decay over time, littering and polluting landscapes forever.
A reviewer describes the wind turbines: “Each one is comprised of nearly 5,000,000 pounds of concrete, steel, aluminium, copper, plastic, cobalt, rare earths, fiberglass and other materials. Every step in the mining, processing, manufacturing, transportation, installation, and maintenance process requires fossil fuels. It bears repeating: wind and sun are renewable and sustainable; harnessing them for energy to benefit mankind absolutely is not.”
Having investigated renewable energy Michael Moore says, “We’re basically being fed a lie”. He now believes we’d be “better off just burning fossil fuels in the first place,” than doing all of this.
Jacinda Ardern has claimed that climate change is her generation’s nuclear free moment. But if she is genuine about wanting to govern for all New Zealanders, she needs to put aside her UN-inspired activism, to avoid ruining our economy, because one day the renewable energy agenda will be exposed and discredited for the lies that it is.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Do you support Labour’s goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| No way should socialism be ingrained in nz society | Sidwell |
| not possible without excessive rising costs to households. | stewart |
| 100% renewable is not sustainable due to the intermittent nature of renewable electricity | Mark |
| It’s politics playing with science at the expense of NZ economy | Trevor |
| another ideaological nightmare. If we have to charge all electric vehicles there’ll be not enough power for the rest of us | bill |
| Never count on treacherous LABOUR, they keep talking about the PACKAGE.Problem is, the so called package, never arrives! and never will. Sadly! | David |
| A pipe dream | Peter |
| Prices will just rise and rise | Lyn |
| What path are we being led down by this government and it’s Maori ministers? Are they intent upon making NZ truly Racist? | Roy |
| NO! | Peter |
| How can they possibly achieve that in a way that is economical and practical and safeguards the economic well-being of New Zealanders. | Pieter |
| You can’t achieve what is not possible – but they’ll try and they’ll destroy this country in the process | Dean |
| Just another example of impractical idealism… a speciality of this Lab/Green Govt. | Peter |
| A modern country does not have racially biased seats and need to be abandoned now. Could a nationwide campaign be organised to abolish ail these seats before the next election? | Monica |
| “fossil fuel” was a label created to pretend scarcity, so that the price of oil/coal/gas could be manipulated. “Renewable” energy is the latest version of the scam, in which we are forced to buy a thing that doesn’t work. Labour, National and Greens are surfing the wave, a gigantic scam. | powder |
| Dreamers … | Maddi |
| Increased anthropogenic CO2 has a positive effect on the environment, NOT a negative one. | Brooke |
| Completely not realistic, justifiable or affordable. The Law of Diminishing Returns looms large here. | Laurie |
| Not enough time to do it properly. The Government is bending over backwards to look good in the UN 2030 eyes, to the complete and absolute detriment of our country New Zealand | Caren |
| Impossible, it is nothing more than a “pipe dream” | Ian |
| renewables are unreliable and expensive. If the Greenies are so set against carbon then go nuclear! | Amanda |
| Do they not understand that most if not all alternative power options have a massive indirect negative environmental impact on our planet. Batteries, solar, and wind construction force immense pressure on resources and energy to manufacture. | John |
| It ridiculous and part of UN agendas green deal. Its a farce | Kara |
| I emailed Fatty Brownlee — no acknowledgement received from National’s 2020 Campaign Manager — suggesting he have Judith Collins ask the PM the following questions during the course of the three televised leader’s debates: [1] On what basis does the Prime Minister believe that one person has an unearned claim on the property and income of another? What does the Prime Minister believe is her ‘fair share’ of something that someone else has earned? | Reuben |
| The Foundation Stones that built this monstrous mountain of political power was based on an erroneous claim that CO2 is a harmful Gas when it is a “Harmless” Gas that we consume everyday! One of the major flaws is shown by the claim and counter-claim that on the one hand a rise in CO2 will “Cook” the Planet and on the other hand a rise in CO2 levels will take us to an Ice Age!!! HOW CAN A RISE IN CO2 LEVELS BOTH INCREASE GLOBAL WARMING & DRIVE THE CLIMATE TO AN ICE AGE? A graphical example was designed by the Lavoisier Group of scientists from the research of Poussart, Weaver & Barnes – University of Victoria, Canada in 1999. It shows that an Ice Age starts to form at 2,500 ppm and full Glaciation is reached at 3,000 ppm of CO2. The Climate Cult uses Theories and Hypothesis to create political argument that will de-industrialise western democracies. It is reasonable to demand Quantitative Evidence prior to forcing millions into poverty and despair due to the shut-down of many industries and the eventual removal of daily used, household products. Quantitative Evidence has not been established! The electricity industry is one for the picking by self-destructive socialist policy. SOME 6,000 EVERYDAY PRODUCTS THAT WE USE ARE MADE FROM OIL AND THE MAJORITY OF THESE PRODUCTS CONTAIN ONE OR MORE POLLUTANTS MADE FROM THE REFINING OF PETROLEUM OR GAS OR THE COMBUSTION OF FOSSIL FUELS. The three largest gases in our atmosphere; Nitrogen Oxygen and Argon make up 99.96% of the atmosphere. Thus, the remaining gases are Microscopic, including Carbon-Dioxide and Methane. Mankind’s production of CO2 is 0.0018% or 1/1, 000th of 1% and 0.00001% or 1/100,000th of 1% for Methane. Earth%u2019s atmosphere (Troposphere) is 5,000 Trillion Tonnes of Mass. The saying; You may as well p** in the ocean would seem appropriate for those that fear the destruction of the Planet is imminent! Number crunching Technocrats have identified five fatal flaws in the Climate Cult Theories. One of them is portrayed here. The remainder are available in a 30 minute Power Point Presentation and that is freely offered to any organisation looking for the Truth about Carbon Dioxide! Take away the Foundation Stone of deception and one can see through the politics! FUTURE STRATEGIES, TIPS AND POLICY: (To prevent driving mankind down into submission and poverty by de-industrialisation) – Encourage oil exploration into the foreseeable future due to indefinite supply – Encourage alternative energy sources due to demand for oil (Consumer Choice) – Encourage alternative engine propulsion due to depletion of oil reserves and not global warming (Consumer Choice). – Accept Petroleum and Natural Gas Refining and the need for Combustion Pollutants in every day household products to maintain living standards and life expectancy – Discourage membership of international bodies aligned to the political climate cult | Frederick |
| Agree with Bryan 100%. Ardern and her ideological government are using our tax money to experiment with New Zealand’s economic future. It’s a scam. follow the money. | Sam |
| I have also researched this and find Dr Muriel Newman is 100% correct in what she says. Jacinda clearly does not have our backs on this and prefers to stand for the new One World Order. | Christine |
| Just another pipe dream from this labour government . | Roy |
| It is a real puzzle that supposedly intelligent people are blind to the realities being presented to them. What does it take? | Ken |
| CO2 has no influence on meterological change.. Global warming is natural. | Graeme |
| It is based on ignorance and is a fraud. | John |
| This government always puts ideology ahead of the public health and well being, Jacinda and her merry band of activists are well on the way to burn down the New Zealand we know, so they can build it back into their socialist nirvana, we are so screwed | John |
| The whole concept is completely unworkable. | Kerry |
| As an Electrician, I can see that this is unachievable without HUGE cost to the taxpayer – us, and will not be truly renewable, that’s a farce; it will just be “ticking that box” but the reality is that there will be non renewable “backstage” to keep the “renewable” going “onstage” | linc |
| While I’m NOT a Labour supporter, I do wish them well with this lofty goal. | Tony |
| Absolutely not. This is a totally unrealistic goal. They are better off subsidising technologies to reduce emissions from fossil fuels. At least then we wont have horrendous increases in energy costs. | David |
| Pure fantasy. | Lee |
| NO! NO! and NO! absolute madness. | Vaughan |
| It is absolute stupidity and sheer economic ignorance ‘ Go ahead and try to develop electricity, but you don’t cut off the m energy you have available. They are stupid. If they paid them in matches they would be in darkness for the rest of their lives. | Dene |
| No no no. | Catherine |
| Another of socialist Cindy trying torule us all. | June |
| This is nothing but ‘virtue signalling’ by saint jacinderella. ‘Vote for me and I will save your world from certain destruction.’ Utter nonsense, as are most of her pronouncements. | TOBY |
| Absolutely NOT. Jacinda Ardern should appraise herself of the doco ‘Planet of the Humans’. This is but one of thousands of well researchd scientific papers that debunk the Greens and her religious fervour in global warming. Got nothing to do with anthropological Co2. | Maureen J |
| Labour’s pipe dreams with no thought to the consequences to the country or taxpayers. Total madness. | Fraser |
| It is a boondoggle based on false science. | Mo |
| It’s a huge stretch to even label this kind of lunacy “a goal”. | Tom |
| They’re dreaming !! | John |
| Of course not, the proposal is wildly expensive and unachievable | Terry |
| This is just a major con-job by our socialist prime minister and her green co-horts. | Jan |
| DREAMING | TED |
| At every point of debate, this’greener than thou’ policy is demonstrably false, utterly deceitful and ruinous to society and the environment. In short it is ‘a 2030 Jac-croc’. God help us. | Robert |
| I would support it if they didn’t have a history of pandering to the regressive extremists at the expense of the nation and it’s citizens. | Pavel |
| Councils must remain neutral and united and govern for the wider good focusing on councils core functions ie: water, sewerage, roading and environment waste etc. | Elaine |
| Ardern is a fantasist, in this as in so much else. Her ambitions lie well beyond New Zealand; in the UN to be exact, and their price will be the ruin of our economy. | Mike |
| Coal fired Huntly is our best back-up. But what about Fusion or geothermal steam? | Ian |
| Here we go again, this lot under Ardern are more knowledgeable than the experts ,leading the country once again down the slippery slopes. Unfortunately those who voted for this lot cannot see the wood for the trees | Tom |
| Just stupidity. | Michael |
| unachievable and unrealistic. | ian |
| Get the economy right first!! | Maureen |
| delusional and dangerous | chris |
| Because the whole issue of global warming is a posi scheme. | David |
| It is based on falsehoods and premises that are unproven. If it does increase the cost of power for households by 100% it is unaffordable. However it appears that cost will increase by 3 times that!!! Sheer madness and total ignorance. | Kerry |
| Solar power and wind generation projects are land pollution on an enormous scale. | gary |
| Renewables are unreliable, expensive and NOT green. Wind turbines and solar panels require heavy metal mining, coal, quarrying, and petrochemicals. In other words the mining and fossil fuel industries to manufacture them and the huge number of batteries required to store their power. They are extremely inefficient and only an idiot would try to generate any significant amount of power with them. | Derek |
| Seems to be to me, “mission impossible”. | Ian |
| The agenda is ideologically driven and is not based on any practical data. The goal of all their ideological goals is simply control of the people, the assets and political arena. Any data used is plucked from data in such a way that it reflects the goal, not reality. | Bruce C |
| It is not achievable | Bryan |
| One only has to look at the background of her ministers to see the immaturity and lack of common sense, so don’t expect intelligent decisions to follow. | Rex |
| Absolutely not it is sending us back to caveman days | Jeffrey |
| The last 5% part of the 100% will be ruinously expensive and achieve nothing towards climate change mitigation. | Brenton |
| Not at all realistic | Alan |
| The utter hypocricy of it is Labours new partner greens absolutely oppose new dams and extended hydro and geothermal development yat have no practical plan to accommodate the demand growth from immigration and new electric vehicles. As usual the left and right hands of this disunity party are at odds and the resulting chaos will massively hurt the most vulnerable. | Richard |
| Lovely idea but the reality is very different | Laurel |
| Electricity from renewable sources is a major scam which needs exposing! | Sheila |
| This is all happening because we finally got the Government we deserve – and it serves us jolly well right! And to all those “strategic” voters who opted for Labour to “keep the Greens out” – how’s that working for you so far? If only we could focus our collective efforts in finding constructive methods of creating wealth instead of squandering it on harebrained schemes, we might stand a chance of pulling this country out of the financial mess we are in. | Scott |
| It is idealistic nonsense and not in the best interest of New Zealanders financially or technically. | Diana |
| Going on their performances so far, I wouldn’t think they could organize a booze up in a brewery. Cindy has one goal, get a job in the UN, use NZ as did Helen Clarke to get there. Socialism is slowly taking over the world. | Peter |
| It is an absolute fraud and a farce. It defies the obvious reality that it is simply not possible. | Gary |
| Pie in the sky! | Paul |
| got to be dreaming! | wally |
| Sheer madness. Unfortunately the sanctimonious left have yet to reach peak lunacy. | Brian |
| Pie in the sky. This years “Kiwibuild”. They would have needed to move towards the 2030 goal at the turn of the century to have a show of delivery. But most of this lot won’t be around in 2030 to make lame excuses. Dreamers and drongos | Philip |
| Ideology is always bad. It is the product of fanatics. | Mark |
| It remains difficult to escape the conviction, that this present Government is primarily on course to erode our Democratic freedom and institute layers of control. It’s also clear, that a policy of Fear is being employed; look at the manner Ardern conducted as part of her election campaign–out there in the crowds, actively encouraging voters, even backed up by a supporter on a loudhailer, to go quickly and vote early, there and then. | Alan |
| Heads in the sand – what more can one say? | Dale |
| I DO HAVE A BRAIN | sheryl |
| Not realistic ( like many of the Left Socialist policies and their infatuation with United nations driven “instructions”) | Christopher |
| dangerous fools | wayne |
| Too hard | Warren |
| My words re this matter are unprintable…! How DARE they? | Naine |
| Nuclear power. Bring it on………….! | RICHard |
| I wonder sometimes, if we actually have the intelligence to be able to govern this country with a modicum of common sense | Allan |
| Just look at what’s happened in California a bloody disaster. Ok so why don’t we do the same and fall into the ‘Trap’ . Let’s all pay higher Prices for our Energy. Go Figure !! | Geoff |
| Another Globalist Agenda hoax to control the population is the best way to describe the Anthropogenic Climate Change Hoax, . Similarly the Maori ward campaign is another step toward destroying Western democracy. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed to make us ONE PEOPLE UNDER ONE LAW. Tell me please; as there are now only part bred Maori, does that mean they can have only part of a vote, or a bob each way? Currently they are being considered lesser humans than the rest of society, with nearly 200 privileges available only to them, plus money thrown at their elite amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Not a bad return for a mixed race group who hold all of the records for the wrong statistics. Like any group or individual, personal responsibility is the only solution. But know MARXIST-Globalist Agenda administration is going to promote that. | A.G.R. |
| they need to enter the real world, not the world of dreamers, and village idiots! | norm |
| A pipe dream for radical exploitation of our resources. | Brian |
| While sympathetic with the aims of those who want to do this stuff the simple reality is that it is not any more possible than it would be to hoise yourself to the moon by pulling on your bootlaces. And, while we are on the subject, the banning of internal combustion driven motor vehicles, ships or aircraft is the same impossible game because manufacture of the batteries required for electric vehicles causes an extraordinary amount of pollution. It is said that the pollution caused to manufacture one set of batteries for an electric car will equal 70 years of pollution from one internal combustion engined car. Bear in mind also that the battery for your electric car will last only a few, very few, years and at that stage the owner will need to invest in (a) another battery or (b) another complete new car. In this case you must cause far more pollution over a lifetime if you choose to use electric cars. | Rob |
| If you look through clear eyes at power generation in NZ, we have no way of doing this. Wind power uses man-made materials in the blades as well as rare-Earth metals (very dirty) and metals like copper that are mined and smelted. Dammed rivers and lakes are an ecological disaster. And with The Piranha at the helm, this will be another kiwibuild success. | Mark |
| Absolutely total nonsense, just like the Petrol/Diesel car Statement | Les |
| The politicians like many greenies have their heads in the clouds and are only looking for voters, not reality | Hilary |
| This idiot bunch will force it through and not be around when it turns to custard | Jenny |
| Idiots! Words fail me. | Roy |
| Talk is cheap but in Labours case expensive. They are so incompetent they couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. There is zero chance they will achieve anything except further magnify the countries national debt | Richard |
| Idea good but not practical | Patrick |
| Bryan is correct. It is a goal that we don’t need to run to and there are many much more important projects where we should spend our money. Its pie in the sky!! | David |
| To support this would be a complete disaster, as the whole system would not be able to sustain such a transformation of the power industry let alone the required structures!!!!!! | Roy |
| More idiotic theories which do not work in practice and cost huge amounts of money | Gareth |
| Impossible | David |
| It’s impossible. | Andrew |
| Your climate- denying rhetoric is becoming more alarmist and strident by the day. I see nothing wrong with developing energy creation processes that leaves the planet unchanged. Even nuclear. If fossil fuels had never been an option for Homo Stupidus, you can be assured we’d have “discovered” something to take its place. Onslow to Roxborough | Linzey |
| They are a bunch of loopy politicians who have never worked in the real world so don’t understand how the real world operates | Laurie |
| Beyond belief…..! | Bill |
| No, I’m afraid Labour use the principle of “just because it doesn’t work in practice – doesn’t mean it can’t work in theory!” No real world experience from a bunch of university educated misfits who couldn’t earn a living in a commercial environment. I wouldn’t trust them to run a small business, let alone a country, | Rex |
| It is simply UN pushing to dictate how they think we should be living. We do not have the required infrastructure eg dams to produce sufficient electric power and the Greens are opposed to building more dams (go figure). | Gifford |
| No – The science is not even settled as to why it is needed at all. | Maurice |
| This Gov. of ours lives in a dream world of fantasy. | Robert |
| NZ has fallen for fake news to an alarming extent. Thank you Muriel and team for endeavouring to set the record straight | Catherine |
| The ‘greenies’ and their idiot followers have to be dreaming! | Ced |
| Pipe dream!! Maybe nuclear-powered will solve all this? As for the Maori voting system, I hope votes will be cast in proportion to the level of Maori blood each voter has. Just ridiculous. We are all Kiwi. | Tim |
| unless you like power price to go up by at least 300% or more | John |
| This woman and govt is reallly taking us for a ride towards her commo ways and bending to the greens who are worse than her | Eric |
| I disagree completely with the whole “progressive” approach as it is based on a big fat lie! Renewable energy is a scam. It is not clean and green, nor sustainable, but is more destructive than the energy sources it seeks to replace. | Neil |
| A serious “Reality check ” is required…. | Chris |
| It will never happen! | Graham |
| I, like many other New Zealanders, do not agree with ANY FORM of climate change action. There is now way we can change the weather and to think we in NZ can is simply stupid and the Greens’ policies are likewise stupid and ill conceived. Our media are falling in their job of informing the public of the plain truth. pushing for ” zero carbon” is totally unnecessary and unrealistic.. | Graeme |
| They have to be dreaming. When will they listen to the experts factual advice on these Important projects . | Rick |
| It is totally ridiculous and must be opposed at every level! | Allan |
| Two matters here First I do not agree in anyway with the 100% renewables agenda. Not possible if you want to avoid blackouts and unless you are willing to pay exorbitant amounts for your energy. On top of all this BS the world is NOT getting warmer there is NO climate crisis. Also any savings by little old NZ would have absolutely NO effect on the worlds temperature. The real agenda of the UN and its puppets is to control you and all you do PURE COMMUNISM The second matter is the Maori takeover of New Zealand THERE WAS NOT, IS NOT, AND CAN NEVER BE A PARTNERSHIP with any small section of the people of New Zealand to the exclusion of all others. Three concepts were written into the TOW Sovereignty to the British Crown, Property Rights, and the EQUALITY OF ALL CITIZENS. Nowhere was there any partnership mentioned and until all this Maori Sovereignty BS is put to bed we will never be able to prosper as we should as a nation The supremacy movement now underway must be opposed totally | Robin |
| Absolutely barmy. I hoped that practical people were in charge of the Government but, sadly, it appears we have only idiots. | Don |
| WASTING money at Govt level is stupid | |
| LOOK around the world how they embraced green energy & now have power cuts ALOT & peoples power bills have INCREASED by OVER DOUBLE what they were..DREAM on jacinda,your NOT thinking of NZealanders only more overseas attention. | Cindy |
| Man made climate change is the second biggest con inflicted on the populace. Second only to life hereafter. Common sense should prevail. | Doug |
| No comment needed. Dr. Newman has summed it up and left little room for a counter argument. | richard |
| I certainly do not! It’s going to take more than 10 years to prepare the country for a drastic change like this – i.e. most people have currently got petrol or diesel driven cars, electric cars are maybe out of the reach for most people. We need gas for our homes! I live in a brand new house, and I have gas heating and water heating, where does that leave thousands of Kiwis? Too much pandering to the Greens! | Heather |
| Welcome to Fantasy Land. | Geoff |
| idiotic and unrealistic | Robert |
| Have they all forgotten it cost money that we would have to borrow. Our only hope is that they are as useless at putting this together as they are at building houses | Barras |
| It’s unreal | Theo |
| NO & NO !!! Renewable energy is a proven fraud and will weaken the economy. A morally just and economically independent people cannot be controlled. A morally corrupt and economically dependent people are easily controlled. We are talking about weakening our economy as a prelude to a totalitarian take-over here. | Don |
| Onslow idea is plain stupid..!! | Peter |
| As long as it is Hydro not wind | Colin |
| Pie in the sky!,,,, | Neil |
| Work on some thing that is possible | dave |
| I see that used wind turbine blades that are no longer fit for use are being buried as a means of disposal – none of the material they are made of is recycled and they have a limited service life. Green energy??? | David |
| that James Shaw is an idiot opens his mouth before he putts his brain into gear sadly I think the brain is missing just get used to it fossil fuels are here for a long time yet | Russell |
| It may be an Aspirational target. Aspirational Targets do not make for good law. IF (and there is a fairly good chance of this) all the issues with Batteries, and power storage, conversion rates for Solar Cells, disposal of PV’s and batteries is not addressed….and everything cuts off….some one in 2030 is going to have a problem. | Lionel |
| Wake up Kiwi’s, do you want your power price to increase by 300%. | Malcolm |
| Daft ambition, cost would outstrip benefits several times over. | Graham |
| ianythin to do with 2030 is dangerous , made worse by idealist country management.. | alex |
| dangerous and shows how out touch with reality they really are | barry |
| Common sense has gone out the window. Lunatics are in charge. | Bev |
| Either the Prime Minister does not understand what it entails or she is being fed misinformation. | Paloma |
| The fact that Lithium mining (to make nice/pretty batteries for electric cars) is such a destructive process which demands absolutely massive use of non-renewable assets such as diesel for the trucks etc, that I will NEVER buy an electric car, just to try and fool myself that I am helping preserve the environment. | Carl |
| The whole idea is just bulldust! When on earth are these climate alarmist’s going to actually start doing some serious reading on the actual facts of so called global ‘warming’! | Ron |
| The Docco ‘Planet of the Humans’ should be screened on prime-time tv so everyone sees it. It’s necessary for people to see that ‘renewable’ energy and ‘climate change’ is the money-making scam for billionaires that it so obviously is. | Sherrin |
| Pie in the sky!! | Cecilie |
| Jacinda is a dreamer | David |
| This is pipe dream, and cannot be achieved. The cost would be horrific… | Carl |
| Our virtue signalling Prime Minister wants to demonstrate to the world how to totally wreck an economy in ten years. She has no understanding of the exponential rise in the costs to consumers as she struggles to achieve her impossible goal. | Lee |
| WHY are these articles not being asked by ALL National politicians and our so called journalists of our so called government politicians. | bill |
| This government is not remotely interested in governing for all New Zealanders. If it was it would never have gone into an un-necessary agreement with the Green party who are getting more power than ever. When it all goes bad, may the voters turn against Jacinda and her cohorts in large numbers. | John |
| Definitely not – its rubbish. Ardern is only pushing this to appease her UN masters at the NZ tax payer & consumers expense. Another Ardern pipe dream, she needs to pull her head out of her arse ….. | Mark |
| Scientific evidence proves it to be unobtainable in the time frame. This is the problem we will be facing for ever, politicians making decisions without consulting experts in their fields. | Dennis |
| It is totally unrealistic. But we must find other energy sources. | John |
| They have no idea of the real world | Morrin |
| Solutions need to be practical, affordable and flexible. These factors do not exist as yet. | Mark |
| NZ as we know will be destroyed by a Labour government. | dennis |
| Pipe dreaming | joe |
| No way in hell. Just more greenies crap. This govt allows criminals to vote .. maoris to illegally occupy land .. pay every loser who doesn’t want to work .. put maoris on councils unelected ..and put Mahuta with with her tattooed face up as spokesperson for foreign affairs. Enough to scare anyone off! Now, all our tv channels and schools are being brainwashed with so called te reo and it is pushed down our throats wheather we want it or not. I do not. | Des |
| self destructive | jo |
| Its pie in the sky thinking | Neville |
| They need to get real!! | Brian |
| Where are National and ACT on this? Their silence is deafening. They should be shouting from the rooftops in opposition. Labour are trying to take us down the path to ruination. | Helen |
| UN glove puppet Ardern and her punch and judy show are told what to do. Proper science is something they would not understand even if they wanted to. For example: the laws of thermodynamics ! Here it says that to transform energy into work results in a loss of energy on the way. In short: this hydro scheme is just another hare brained idea and Shaws wish to get rid of all combustion engines : utter nonsense. | Michael |
| Why would we be stupid enough to cripple ourselves economically for a no-achievable and useless goal? | Roger |
| Pie in the sky for no good reason | Russ |
| Do Labour mean more hydro and geothermal?. | Warwick |
| I completely agree with with Brian Leyland’s arguments I don’t think that it is all doom and . China is continuing to build coal fired power stations around the world so that the technology and production capacity will not be lost as it has been in Europe, Japan and the US. When the wheels fall off the renewables bandwagon, I’m sure they will be willing to give us cheap loans to buy their power stations in exchange for concessionary access to our agriculture, forestry, minerals, water etc. As we have seen, political influence often follows close behind economic influence and this may force NZ to more closely align with China than at present, and this may even lead to a “One Country Two Systems” type of relationship. So, the future might be quite rosy! | Geoff. |
| As usual ideology dominates govt policy over practicality. | Terry |
| They are getting crazier by the day. | Mike |
| Impossibly impractical. | Maurice |
| I am 78 and will not be here to see this and other catastrophes forced on us to Ms Arden, but I fear for those younger who will rue the day they et this crowd control their future lives and livelihood. So much damage will occur in the next 2.9trs that NZ will be a place no one will want to live…heaven help us! | Robyn |
| The renewable energy strategy will destroy our economy in favour of countries like China and do nothing for the climate. I approve it as I think New Zealand will have to learn the hard way… 3rd world shit-hole is what we deserve to become. | Melahi |
| THIS GOVERNMENT ARE INCOMPETENT AND AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES. ASK HOW THEY ARE GOING TO DO IT ,THEY WOULDN’T HAVE A CLUE LOOK AT TH CALIBER OF THE MEMBERS | jOHN |
| Dream country. Do the real maths instead of sending the country bankrupt. | Robbie |
| Dream on . Ugly windmills pollute many horizons, recycled (aged) used parts pollute landfills; Electric cars could run out of recharge power.- then what? | Stuart |
| Impractica. Right now, and for the next 20 years we need focus on recovering from the Covid debacle | tony |
| No, not the mickey mouse way they intend doing it. If they built hydro dams I would be interested. After completion the river is still there, the fish are still there and replanting and beautification there are recreational possibilities and renewable energy is the result. Oh no! it would upset their green mates! | Bruce |
| Have they engaged No-Do Tywford for the job? | Kevin |
| This governments decision make me speechless what have the voters of nz done we may never recover from what they intend to do it’s verging on criminal have none of them any common sense | Peter |
| Ridiculous | roger |
| Just another excuse for more control over the people | David |
| Not achievable and no sound reason to strive for it. | Greg |
| This isn’t possible and even if it were, we don’t need blackouts and triple priced power | Apjrodite |
| It is a ludicrous goal that is only wanted in order to elevate Jacindas global reputation with her radical UN comrades and will be absolutely devastating to all on NZ. God help us! | Sheila |
| Stupid in the extreme. | pdm |
| Wake up Jacinda.. get real | Donald |
| It’s a pipe dream. There are adequate assessments affirming it is simply not financially plausible. Adern is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. | Charles |
| It’s not been thought out well. Renewable energy relies on diesel to create the wind turbines, electric cars, solar power panels. Each component is based on raw materials dug out of the ground, shipped, trucked or trained to assembly plants. Erected onsite by diesel engine vehicles and after their BRIEF life are turned to scrap. Actually wind turbine blades are buried as they can’t be recycled. All trains, trucks and ships are made of steel dug out of ground and made into steel – which uses coal! Renewable energy is misguided thinking. Costs us more for less returns compared to traditional power sources. | Simon |
| Pure ideology claptrap and Jacindarella just getting her next job with the UN ready | Rayward |
| It’s a crazy idea, put forward by crazy people. | Chris |
| Expensive madness | Peter |
| As usual the PM is grandstanding so she can be appointed to the UN. Look at me aren’t I clever at the expense of the NZ people | Andrew |
| Socialist lying scum | Greg |
| “Not for Greens” a very excellent text written by Ian Plimer should be compulsory reading for all politicians and school children.James Shaw and Jacinda would also benefit greatly. | gale |
| Dreaming. What about China & India, they are still building coal fired plants. | Sheena |
| Totally unreralistic | Pete |
| Ideals are doomed to fail if all relevant factors are ignored. Unfortunately poor political decisions have no consequence for the politicians who make them – the masses carry that burden. | Martin |
| I certainly hope that at the next election; UN Cindy, the loony left Labour Party, and the dope smoking Greens, will find themselves not renewable. They are simply playing the game of politics to suit themselves on the basis of how good the bullshit seems to them, in their political bubble world where slogans, spin and buzz words light the way… Reality is for everyone else, it seems. | LUKE |
| It will never happen …. | Roy |
| Pie in the sky. | Brett |
| And with this crowd impossible to achieve. Faze out to another energy source over a 50 year period please. | Graeme |
| The whole “Climate Change/Global Warming” claim has been described as the greatest scientific fraud of modern times. The average temperature of the earth has been static or cooling since 1998 or thereabouts. The SUN has a major effect on our temperature, and the regular cycle of solar flares is headed to a minimum in 2030. | Ramsey |
| Ridiculous idea | Liz |
| CO2 is good for plant life but fewer people would help. | John |
| pie in the sky Twyfordism | Mike |
| Driven by pure sigma About as dumb as it gets | John |
| It’s not practical until a clean, renewable, plentifully and affordable alternative to fossil fuel is available Put investment into making fossil fuel cleaner and environmentally friendly | David |
| 100% renewable energy is a recipe for instability and blackouts. They are mad to even think of pursuing it. | Jason |
| This is the sort of goal that shows Jacinda Ardern is not fit to govern. They should not believe their own BS. The experts have said the goal is unachievable. They should modify their policy accordingly. | Graham |
| Climate change is a global fraud. Trying to introduce such all embracing policies will destroy our economy. Labour will turn us all into paupers. | Pauline |
| Labour is planning to kill our economy for a scam. Unbelievable. | Harry |
| Why is National not yelling from the rooftops about all of this? Who is going to defend common sense and fight against climate extremism. Its madness. | Roger |