Shane Jones vs Emerald Mannequins 

The house was treated to another display of oratorial greatness this week from our very own Shane Jones. On the challenges facing our energy sector, he blasted the previous government’s failure to future-proof New Zealand’s energy resilience. 

“Somehow there's the religious-like agenda driven by a tiny minority of green operatives to prevent NZ profiting from our own natural endowment. It's shallow thinking, sadly for many regional economies it's been exceedingly dangerous”.

New Zealand First campaigned on prioritising strategic infrastructure, boosting industry resilience, and developing a national fuel resilience strategy. We believe in a balanced, commonsense approach to policy solutions., fiercely opposing ideological extremism. 

“If you don't like the intrusive nature of oil drilling and gas drilling, then something has to give. Because we absolutely need it to power industry, to maintain jobs, to boost the resilience of our energy system. And life, whether it's economical, political or personal, is always about give and take”. 

Our coalition agreement includes a significant list of commitments pertaining to infrastructure, energy and natural resources. And Shane Jones is spear-heading these policies, determined to get things done to improve New Zealand’s economic prosperity as quickly as possible. 

Hear more from Shane in the following interviews from this week: 

• Shane Jones urges return to coal amid gas shortage, pushes for more fossil fuel extraction 
• Resources Minister says coal will remain until the gas sector is 're-legitimised'  
• Shane Jones Talks Iwi Consultation Over Crown Minerals Act  
• The Country 09/05/24: Shane Jones talks to Jamie Mackay  

em·er·ald mann-e-quin 

adjective / noun 

1. a Shane-Jones-ism as referenced in the house, meaning ‘green plastic’ that is easily swept along by faddishness 

What is a woman?  

The quick-witted mastery of Winston Peters was on show this week as he reminded the house about the time a certain former Prime Minister couldn’t define what a woman is… 

Winston also spoke out against academic indoctrination being enforced upon law students at Auckland University, highlighting yet again the ridiculous cultural madness being purported within our education system. 

“Law students should not be force fed this kind of woke indoctrination from some culture warrior’s slanted version of what tikanga means”. 

Listen to further coverage of Winston on the below interview link: 

• Winston Peters on AUKUS, Tikanga for Lawyers, Helen Clark & Bob Carr  

He then rounded out the week by announcing that New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill to protect women’s spaces. Read the full announcement here. 

New Zealand First is continuing its efforts to protect kiwis from woke ideology and cancel culture. Make sure you’re following Winston’s social media pages for regular updates, and share this newsletter with like-minded kiwis.

The Therapeutic Products Act 2023: going, going, gone 

Casey Costello reconfirmed this week that we will be repealing the Therapeutic Products Act 2023 (TPA) by the end of the year. 

Another highly anticipated policy commitment, New Zealand First recognised that the current Medicines Act was out of date, but that the TPA was not the solution. Instead, we will develop a modern, risk proportionate regulatory regime for medicines and medical devices, and a separate modernised regime for natural health products. 

For over 20 years we have championed the natural health industry and have previously stopped similar legislation from being passed in parliament.  

New Zealand First believes in ensuring quality healthcare for all New Zealanders. This includes giving people the opportunity to make their own health choices and choose the right health products that suit their needs. 

Watch the full announcement here. 

Covid Inquiry petition received and presented to parliament 

On Thursday, party leader Winston Peters and list MP Tanya Unkovich received a petition from RCR on the Covid-19 Inquiry Terms of Reference. This was then presented to parliament in the afternoon. 

Feedback from New Zealanders and organisations is vital to the review process and we welcome the continued support from those kiwis who feel as strongly about protecting our democracy as we do. 

New Zealand First eagerly awaits the next stages of the inquiry being confirmed and we will continue to update our supporters as soon as developments come to light.