NZ First and the oil and gas ban

Audrey Young writes:

The other reason that National has reason to be disgusted at New Zealand First this week is because it is reinventing history in terms of its role in the ban on new oil and gas exploration in 2018.

Peters, in a press conference after his conference speech announcing $1 billion would be used to map New Zealand resources, said that neither he nor Shane Jones had been consulted over the ban. The proof of that, he said, were the pictures that showed Shane Jones with his hand covering his face when then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced it in New Plymouth.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The announcement, on April 12, 2018, was in Wellington. Shane Jones put his hand to his face at the very end during an innocuous comment by Ardern.

What’s more, Jones said he backed the PM 100%, that no one should have been blindsided by the announcement and that his leader, Winston Peters, had been leading the negotiations with Labour over the package. …

There is no doubt that New Zealand First did not embrace Labour and the Greens’ ban on new oil and gas exploration. And for about a month it negotiated to mitigate the effects of it on employment in Taranaki.

There is no doubt that it now bitterly regrets its involvement and that it happened.

The Greens had campaigned on it, Labour had not. The ban was not part of the coalition agreement New Zealand First signed with Labour. It came four months into their term of Government.

But New Zealand First was involved. The reality is that it did not veto the move, when it had the power to do so.

It was not blindsided by it. It is trying to rewrite history.

The ban was not in the NZF coalition agreement with Labour. They could have simply refused to back it, and there would not have been the votes for it. But they decided to back it. That is a fact.