A farcical breach of contract with New Zealand voters

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern may never get to Taranaki ‘‘later in May’’ to explain her decision to effectively wind down the oil and gas industry.

I wouldn’t be surprised if angry locals storm the runway when she attempts to fly in on old fossil fuels.

The West Coast almost skewered Michael Cullen when Labour banned the logging of native timber 16 years ago and Taranaki locals aren’t exactly known as welcoming if you’re a flashy outsider who’s taking away their jobs.

That’s how they view it. Because this policy is not just about a ban on drilling, which will still continue for decades; it signals the beginning of the end for this billion-dollar industry here in New Zealand. It means an end to thousands of jobs and billions in royalties, which are spent paying for public services.

Talk about spending all your political capital at once.

In recent years, prime ministers have carefully guarded political capital and been careful to do what they say they’re going to do.

Voters hate surprises; especially from Labour.

So why wasn’t Labour upfront about its intentions? People in the area feel shafted. They know it’s a dying industry but they didn’t expect the prime minister to kill them from afar so early.

It’s not just oil jobs but thousands of workers are connected though auxiliary industry. Even cafes and pubs will be affected. They will be more affected if this Government doesn’t get it right. But the transition is years off and Labour will be long gone then.

So did Labour tell the truth about this? Did Labour say it would do this during the election campaign? Potentially it’s possible, but I can’t find it.

Best place to look? Labour’s manifesto.

Labour produced a 10-page policy in its 2017 election manifesto called Action On Climate Change, but not once does it talk about this policy.

It talks about transitions to new energies but not once does it say it will ban future drilling permits in its first six months in office.

Why couldn’t Labour be honest and upfront? Why has it hidden its real intentions? Indeed, most people get climate change is real but Labour now looks sneaky. It’s lost the trust of some voters.

It’s taken the electorate by surprise and Ardern has broken her contract with Kiwi voters.

There may well be a brutal reaction and not just at the local airport when she finally decides to show her face.

Is climate change real? Yes. Do we need to do something? Yes. Are alternative energies and products available? Not in the range and price we all need.

And that’s why this decision feels idealistic and not pragmatic. This is not a high school speech topic, this is real.

So congrats for being so bold, Labour, but the rollout of this policy feels rushed, not thought through and farcical when you consider the lack of detail.

It may well be Ardern’s legacy and it is big and bold. We sign all these international agreements to be carbon-free in the decades ahead so we better start doing things differently because we’re a dirty emitter at the bottom of the world.

We have to play our part and it’s hardly a surprise things have to change. But this looks farcical. It looks rushed. Where was the solution? Why couldn’t Ardern and her ministers show up?

A pile of them met the anti-oil activists at Parliament a few weeks back, including the PM, but when it came to the decision itself why act so obvious with their contempt for the industry?

That’s because I think this Government genuinely has a sneering attitude towards this industry.

Shane Jones looked like he’d turned up at his own funeral to be told no, it’s worse than that, you’ve just killed the oil and gas industry in the region you’re supposed to be a champion for.

Jones looked like he’d soiled his pants during the announcement, that’s how uncomfortable he was.

I wonder if the regions would be better off without a minister in Government?

What this Government forgot this week was people. Policy before people is dangerous. It can see your time in office become very short.

Ardern’s Government is clearly transformational but it also looks amateur. In many ways, we should be congratulating her team for the big, bold step but the relationship with voters just got unnecessarily strained.

Maybe Ardern and her idealogues know their time is short so they better dump the big bombs now or never. It’s just a shame that, on their way to this environmental nirvana, nobody has any idea what comes next.

Never, ever forget the people. If you lose the people you’ll soon lose high office. People, people, people. Lose the people and you lose the election.

Lose the election and you get Simon Bridges and he’s such a young environmental champion that . . . oh, that’s right, you’ll get a return to drilling. Now what?

Jones looked like he’d soiled his pants during the announcement, that’s how uncomfortable he was.