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7:50 am, July 15th, 2025 - 16 comments
Categories: Christopher Luxon, climate change, making shit up, national, same old national, science, spin, you couldn't make this shit up -
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Another day and another Christopher Luxon word salad.
This one had a strong sense of deja vu, like you had heard him say it again and again and again and again …
Yesterday on Morning Report Luxon was interviewed in his usual Monday morning slot.
He was asked about climate change in the context of what was happening in Nelson and managed to do this extraordinary back flip.
In particular he was asked about climate change damage and the need to keep bailing people out.
He said he wanted a bipartisan approach to dealing with climate change damage.
This was somewhat weird, surely he should also seek a bipartisan consensus about addressing the cause as well?
He was then asked about power prices and responded by saying it was all Labour’s fault.
Specifically because Labour had banned new Oil and Gas exploration this meant, according to him, we were burning more and more coal because we had less and less gas.
Then he went off on another word salad and said RMA reform was needed so we could have more windmills.
He and members of his Government have been saying this for a while. It seems to be their go to, avoid scrutiny for their abysmal response to climate change by attacking Labour using an urban myth.
There is a lot of detail that he did not mention. For instance:
Besides the use of coal and gas for electricity generation has dramatically lowered over the past couple of decades. It spiked recently but only because we had adverse weather conditions. And because we are not building enough renewable electricity generation.
This graph makes it plain.
And we need to fix the electricity market which is holding back the introduction of renewable power generation.
As I have said previously National’s Max Bradford’s reforms in the late 1990s, which changed the structure of the power sector and allowed power companies to set the price of electricity to that of the most expensive source, has resulted in power companies concentrating on rorting the market rather than delivering new, cheap sources of renewable energy. The reform has been described as “based on inadequate research, rejected key advice, and was logically flawed” and with the benefit of hindsight this is exceedingly clear.
And partial privatisation of the power companies has meant that the power companies have concentrated on the maximisation of payments of dividends, starving themselves of the capital needed to pay for new power generation capacity.
The next time Luxon or any other minister blames Labour’s ending of off shore oil and gas exploration I hope the media take them to task. Because this is lazy rhetoric and ignores current realities or what we have to do if we want to address climate change.
It is a classic example of Bumper Sticker politics.
Great post Micky. Dealing in facts.
Shane Jones' "we are burning Indonesian coal because of Labour" rant was never true. Coal only averaged about 6-7% of NZ’s power sources over recent years.
China is predicted to have 300 GW of battery storage powered by renewables by 2030. There are similar trends in California, Texas and Australia.
NZ needs to massively increase solar power generation (both residential rooftop and large scale solar farms) with battery storage incorporated such that hydro can be managed so that there are never water shortages for generation. This requires incentives from the government.
"By saving surplus energy and releasing when the demand is higher, the energy storage sector will balance out the variability in power generation from renewables. In doing so, it will integrate more renewable sources into China’s energy systems and further facilitate the transition towards a carbon-neutral economy."
https://www.china-briefing.com/doing-business-guide/china/sector-insights/china-s-energy-storage-sector-policies-and-investment-opportunities
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/electricity/china-set-to-surpass-100-gw-battery-storage-in-2025-amid-rising-demand/47593
The Jackal deals with the same issue today (and in sidebar).
https://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2025/07/shane-jones-sky-news-lies.html
Jones is a loose cannon – off the rails. 'Rails? Where we're going, we don't need rails'
China's installed capacity is a shade under 3TW with about 400GW each from wind and solar.
[Image resized- Incognito]
We should be boosting geothermal as more hydro will likely be stopped by environmental opposition. Closing the Bluff smelter needs to be done although there will need to be big interconnect upgrades to send that power north.
But grid-based solar and wind are not a good idea, for reasons of both grid stability and the impact on power prices.
Yeah, a good analysis. My problem with Lux is that he's not doing big-picture thinking. There are times when he kind of hints at an innate capacity for it, so I suspect he has been encultured to avoid it. A politician can always perform at a higher level if they embrace holism as a path to transcendence.
Everyone defaults to evasion, of course, having no faith in philosophy and preferring common sense: a guaranteed prescription for normalising incompetence.
So the key for Lux is to repeat to himself as he gets out of bed each morning a suitable mantra for inducing transcendence: "I must give Labour credit for what it got right. That praxis will trend parliament towards consensus. Kiwis like a fair deal. Doing so puts me on a developmental trajectory for statesmanship. I could even head Winston off before he gets there! Big picture, way to go, yay!"
I think his morning mantra might be "I'm wealthy, I'm sorted".
It seems to me that all new builds should be mandated for solar panels roof.
Aye MS, a great and timely post ! I had read a similar "all Labour's fault" and been thinking of putting up : Break up the Gentailers?Deflect,Deny,Dither……
Luxury Luxon in an earlier : It wuz all Labour's fault (seems a common NACT1 theme)
Chris Hipkins responds
And the Greens Scott Willis (also a New Zealand energy analyst). Aye Scott ! Not too late, 2026 turn our NZ ship around !
Great post Psych, and well said Hipkins.
I think an Energy Profits Levy (EPL-as used in the UK for North Sea oil producers) should be levied on the Gentailers, while at the same time capping energy price rises.
All of the proceeds of the EPL should be used to set up and fund a new state owned enterprise called Kiwi Solar. This would develop solar with battery storage (both large-scale solar farms and residential), or start joint ventures with companies with the same purpose.
Matey, that name (and your extensions) opens such great possibilities. We should make them happen.
2026 : )
I do like Scott Willis but he's essentially describing what EECA do already.
There has to be a better solution to market failure than the Winter Fuel Subsidy, which is just throwing good taxpayer money after bad gentailers, rather than fixing the actual problem.
I can't think of a single utility or oligopoly problem that this government have even tried to solve.
A small but powerful thing a Labour-Green govenrment could do is accelerate bringing the Vector 75% shares into Auckland Council. At least they could accelerate line undergrounding.
Also an empowered Watercare could put small turbines in its dams. A government incenitve would be in order to get that going.
Good outlining of the issues.
Sure it is a simple message for a major political party to outline why the energy sector will be nationalised. Affordable power for all while helping tick the boxes of mitigation of CC, reign in cost of living and building community resilience.
Grid tied solar panels on every school, hospital government building, marae etc with the option of battery back up.
Wide roll out of the promised EV chargers.
"I hope the media take them to task.." no chance there Mickey as the minister in charge of management is not going to be asked any unscripted questions.
Like Shimeon last winter he gets to spray and walk away with this lack of exploration BS whilst others in the coalition openly and not so openly undermine what passes for media in NZ to keep them in check.
Luxon is looking a bit Ted Cruise-y.
Luxon flew back in from holiday to announce another thing his government wouldn’t be taking responsibility for.
He finished by castigating councils for increasing rates while he was cutting taxes…
Just for the record:
"He was asked about climate change in the context of what was happening in
NelsonTasman and managed to do this extraordinary back flip."The main issue for Nelson is slipping on Rocks Road on the waterfront. It's Tasman that has been devastated.
Big shoutout to Tasman for rebuilding their Richmond Town stormwater and road system 4 years ago. It's worked well through this.
Also that downtown is very close to storm high tide.
Would be so easy for the PM to praise local communities for raising the funds and preparing.
A good Prime Minister would.