Luxon’s office admits leaking Hipkins letter to Herald
In the latest instalment of ‘lettergate’, the Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed it sent “one media company” the same letter it sent Hipkins requesting a “credible, bipartisan approach” to offshore oil and gas exploration.
In an extraordinary admission, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s office has confirmed it was responsible for leaking a copy of the Hipkins letterto “one media company”.
The letter was sent to Labour leader Chris Hipkins at 4.30pm on Monday September 29, asking for cross-party agreement on a long-term oil and gas plan to make New Zealand more attractive to foreign investors.
But within 30 minutes of sending it, Luxon’s office also sent it to the New Zealand Herald which went on to run a front-page piece on the “exclusively obtained” letter the next day.
“After sending the letter to Mr Hipkins, we sent it to one media company and subsequently to all others who asked for it,” a spokesperson in Luxon’s office told Stuff.
What Luxon’s office probably wasn’t banking on was for a New Zealand Herald journalist to ask Hipkins’ office for comment on the letter at 5.03pm that day – which was before Hipkins himself had even had a chance to read it.
It was all a political stunt!
This Government’s refusal to do anything meaningful in terms of leadership in our broken energy industry is seeing businesses close and parents forced to chose between heating and putting on an extra coat inside the house.
It is a fucking disgrace!
Opening oil and gas exploration despite all the major players, Chevron, Statoil, Petrobras and OMV all handing in their licenses because they found nothing is not a solution!
There hasn’t been a new major oil or gas find in 20 years and even if they do manage to find something, it won’t be online for 16 years!
National follow that up with their supposed ‘surgical strike’ on the energy sector which is about as surgical as a hammer to the head!
National’s energy plan will do nothing to stem job losses, or manage the cost of living for New Zealanders, that’s not just from the NZCTU, but it’s also being said by Simon Bridges who is hardly a card carrying member of the Communist Party!
The NZCTU is scathing of the Government’s response…
National are tackling non-existent problems such as financing investment, while dodging the real issues, such as delivering new generation and excessive dividend distribution!
Jobs are being lost on a weekly basis across New Zealand and high electricity prices are contributing to those losses. Households faced an average 11.4% increase in electricity prices. Yet the best thing that the Government can do is write a sternly worded letter to the Generators.
Bottom line is National’s plan will not lower peoples power bills or make it cheaper for Business!
Now National are trying to explain how they managed to make an attempt at cross party support into a politic al stunt by leaking their letter to Chippy.
All this is designed to look like National are doing something when they aren’t!
This isn’t a Government serious about solving problems, it is only serious about looking like they are solving problems.
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Well, the CTU and even Shane Jones (with doubtful intent) have come up with the correct solution-renationalise generation and supply. Power should be an affordable necessary utility not a cash cow for private capital.
Yes, Zelda that is what right wing small minded short-term thinking people like you do to solve the problems just sell everything. The problem is we as a country then have no control over vital assets needed for basic living standards, water comes to mind. These assets were paid for by my taxes and my parents and their parents not sure where you come from. As a country we have already been there and done that (privatisation) Zelda crawl back into your hole wherever that is.
‘The energy companies belong in the hands of the private sector where competition, efficiency, and innovation thrive.’
Is that why we are paying about three times as much for power and water now as we did when the state ran it? (those private shareholders got to get their dividends after all).
Still delusional Zelda but at least this time you left God out of things.
To be fair to Zelda, they are correct that competition, efficiency and innovation do thrive in the private sector. That’s not the problem. The problem is that these efficiencies lead to profit, which, instead of being invested in further capacity or reducing costs to consumers, is instead thrown at shareholders, so the costs to consumers stay the same, but the efficiencies result in increased shareholder dividends.
That’s an argument for the social ownership of investment capital (co-operatives, communities, or the state) rather than private ownership of capital. Just place capital under democratic, social control.
My goodness Luxon is just as an appalling a liar as he is PM. Te Puke now his letter to Hipkins, to name but just two of thousands of lies.
solar on every roof and wind power with hydro as a massive battery is the way to go .A family member has 12 panels and they cover at least 30% of his power bill .In most cases he is generating more than he needs .Sadly the lines company is still clipping his ticket every month .
Harrisons say the payback for an 8kw set up is 7 years so after that every house would be making money every year .And nz would be winning .
I honestly can’t understand how the right wing continues to claim higher economic management skills than the lefties.
Every. Single. Time. They fuck things up.
Building a diesel-powered firming plant is the dumbest thing ever.
Sure, it might keep the lights on, but nobody will be able to afford the unit cost.
Just get on with large scale solar subsidies already. It’s the cheapest and cleanest form of energy – even with batteries – and the quickest to install and get kWh flowing.
Just bloody do it already, stupid dinosaurs.
Yes, National’s energy plan will do nothing to stem job losses or manage the cost of living for New Zealanders.
And it (along with health and Digital ID) will be their downfall.
Too much energy wasted here telling Zelda she is a nut job and no constructive ideas .
Luxon has as much between the ears as he has on his head
If Luxon was serious about cross party support he would not have made it 10 years. It’s purely a pathetic political move.
If Luxon was a bicycle he’d be two flat tyres and no handlebar, that’s how useless he is.
Yes but he has a bell that constantly goes blah blah blah blah blah blah
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