Jones brays about plans to host regional development meetings – but Labour is riled by his undeclared dining with miners
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is making no secret of where he will be – at least on 15 specific occasions – over the next several weeks.
He will be hosting a series of nationwide summits “to discuss regional priorities, aspirations and opportunities…”
One of those summits will be in Greymouth, about 100km from Westport which he visited without fanfare earlier this year.
Whether a lack of fanfare means there was something untoward about the Westport visit looks likely to command media attention as much as the summits he has listed in a press statement today.
The Labour Party is claiming Jones misled the public about dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged.
It is demanding that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon ask “serious questions” of Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged.
The Greymouth visit – on the other hand – has been well signalled here …
Whether a lack of fanfare means there was something untoward about the Westport visit looks likely to command media attention as much as the summits he has listed in a press statement today.
The Labour Party is claiming Jones misled the public about dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged.
It is demanding that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon ask “serious questions” of Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged.
The Greymouth visit – on the other hand – has been well signalled here …
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In his statement, Shane Jones said the 15 summits “will facilitate conversations about progressing regional economic growth and opportunities to drive productivity, prosperity and resilience through the Coalition Government’s recently launched Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF).
Through the RIF, the Government is intending to invest and co-invest in resilience infrastructure that improves regions’ ability to absorb, adapt and respond to stresses and shocks.
“We will also invest in projects that support growth through well-connected and productive regions,” Jones said.
“We are looking to the regions to identify their priorities themselves, to leverage existing opportunities, investment and strategies, and bolster the ambitions of local communities. This starts with conversations about central government and regional priorities and where they align, how we maximise the impacts of strategic investment and where we can work together.
“The summits are an opportunity for discussions with iwi representatives, local government, business leaders and sector organisations.”
Organised by Kānoa, the Regional Economic Development and Investment Unit, the summits will take place over the next six to eight months.
Regional summits in Canterbury, Wairarapa, Kāpiti and Chatham Islands are still being finalised with dates in early 2025 to be confirmed.
More information about the RIF, including details about eligibility criteria and the application process can also be found on the Grow Regions website.
But Jones doesn’t always bray about his eagerness to give business a helping hand.
On May 16, Newsroom reported Transparency International’s concerns that Jones’ failure to declare a dinner with mining interests in Westport was just one red flag of many about the Government’s proposed fast-track legislation.
A few days earlier, Newsroom revealed that – at a dinner on the West Coast on February 16 – Jones had encouraged a mining company to write to National Party Minister Chris Bishop and ask to be included in the controversial fast-track regime.
The company, Stevenson Group – which wants to develop the open-cast Te Kuha coal mine near Westport, on the South Island’s West Coast – sent an application letter to Bishop the following week. Less than a fortnight later, Stevenson abandoned a Te Kuha-related High Court appeal.
Initially, Jones told Newsroom the February 16 dinner with Barry Bragg, Stevenson’s deputy chairman, wasn’t included in this ministerial diary because it was “last-minute”.
But the following day, after Newsroom asked more questions, the Minister revealed it had been pre-arranged, and was also attended by Bathurst Resources chief executive Richard Tacon, and Federation Mining vice president Simon Delander.
Jones called the slip a cock-up, and said his office would add the dinner to his ministerial diary.
In a press statement today, the Labour Party recalls Jones telling media in May that “I meet people, mate, randomly, all over New Zealand. And to be in the middle of nowhere, which is largely the majority of Te Tai Poutini [West Coast], and decide to have a dinner is not a capital offence”.
Labour resources spokesperson Megan Woods says he is being disingenuous at best about meeting with industry representatives like this.
“Far from a ‘last minute thing’, the Minister used his Ministerial office to arrange this dinner and then hid it from public scrutiny.
“Shane Jones would have understood that Stevenson Group would use the meeting to ask for their Te Kuha coal mining project, which has been declined in the past, to be approved under his government’s fast tracking legislation.”
Shane Jones’ office also offered the invitation to Bathurst Resources chief executive Richard Tacon, and Federation Mining vice president Simon Delander who both attended the dinner.
“The Prime Minister needs to ask Shane Jones why he failed to declare the meeting in the first place, and why he misled the public about it when challenged,” Megan Woods said.
If the Fast Track Approvals Bill was passed in its current form, Jones would be one of the decision makers on projects that the people he secretly met want to be given the green light.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
1 comment:
Minister Jones is pro active to an extent we have not seen in recent decades.
He is enabling the doers and go getters, the movers and shakers who will
run this economy upwards and profitably to all. The woke greenies and their
like will be involved as they are progressives or not!
Imagine what the result might be, should all our Ministers get into the same
top gear as Shane Jones. All power, keep on Sir, do not let feeble
attempts at hobbling you change your progress,, We NEED you, Sir.
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