"He Knows Nothing, Nothing!"

Is the PMO a Fast Track for corporation-benefiting legislation?

Once divided, nothing left to subtract
Some words when spoken can't be taken back
Walks on his own
With thoughts he can't help thinking
Future's above
But in the past, he's slow and sinking

Songwriters: Eddie Vedder / Jeffrey Ament.

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“Not again,” I said when I turned on Breakfast this morning to find David Seymour in the Monday political slot.

The problem with Winston Peters being so selective about which media engagements he undertakes, and with the Prime Minister hiding because they finally realised that the more we got to know him, the less we liked him, is that we get to see an awful lot of David Seymour. A man I doubt has ever turned down the opportunity to be in front of the camera.

Couldn’t they give the Greens a turn? I thought. They poll higher than ACT, but they seldom get TV coverage. I gave up on TVNZ and went to RNZ instead, where Christopher Luxon had actually shown up. The silver lining was that he would be talking to John Campbell rather than the morning television hosts.

John went straight into it after a brief “Morena” saying, “Let's talk about a story that was breaking last night in which activist Mike Smith accused the government of a coordinated campaign of secret lobbying over changes to climate law to prevent lawsuits.”

You might have seen the article in last night’s news, which explained that Z Energy had provided a document to the Government in 2024, and that Fonterra had done the same with a hard copy. However, a representative from Luxon’s office said they “have no record of either on file”.

The Environmental Law Initiative said, “The Prime Minister's office withheld a document that now showed direct lobbying of PMO staff by the defendants in the Smith case.”

It sounded pretty outrageous, and I posted:

So Z Energy and Fonterra are telling the government what changes they want, and Christopher Luxon can’t remember, despite having implemented them.

I mean, for goodness’ sake, what sort of office is Christopher Luxon running, where documents from such vested interests didn’t even make it to an OIA, and were only revealed for the High Court?

If this were Labour, there would be calls for the leader to resign. Heck, do you remember how they went after Clare Curran for the offence of using the wrong email address?

Marilynn wrote, “National has used the exact words from the Fonterra letter in their new policy. Both companies have admitted to this and said meetings were held in the PM’s outer office and given to Luxon’s staff.”

Mark pointed out, “It’s not just Z and Fonterra. Big tobacco and big mining are at that trough.”

Clare summed it up, “Luxon lied and lied and lied and lied!”

The only alternative explanation to the PM telling porkies is that laws are being passed and he’s not across the detail. Either way, it’s not what you would want from a PM, unless, of course, you’re a Climate Change contributing corporation.

Campbell again asked whether Z Energy and Fonterra helped draft this law, which they obviously did, given that the same text they proposed was used in the legislation.

The PM claimed it was a cabinet decision.

“How do you know that they didn’t have some influence over the amendment?” John probed.

Luxon stuck to the party line, saying they didn’t want people seeking damages in court and that climate change should be regulated by the government. Ignoring the elephant in the room, namely that they don’t regulate it and have, in fact, loosened regulations even as the impacts of weather events worsen year on year.

Campbell talked us through the two companies printing physical documents and handing them to members of Christopher Luxon’s office, and the PM reiterated that they had no record of either event. I heard the echo of a million John Key statements saying he “can’t recall”, is that where we’re at, now?

I think there is zero probability that Z Energy and Fonterra would fabricate such lobbying claims, leaving only dishonesty or negligence on the part of the PMO as explanations.

Campbell stepped it up a notch:

“Why on earth wouldn’t you be told about this? Why would hard copies be used, and where did these documents go? Where did these briefing notes go, do you think?”

Luxon didn’t know and tried to palm it off as a difference between the OIA and the two corporates. There was no humility in his voice; he sounded like a child caught out for doing something wrong, who then persisted in sticking to what was blatantly untrue. He came across as Sergeant Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes.

“He knows nothing, nothing.” Image: BeFunky.

In a smarmier tone, he then said, “Ideally, it should have been noted, but my office has no record or recollection of that,” as if having lobbyists turn up at his office to deliver their preferred changes to legislation and not recording it were just one of those things.

John changed tack, “What Z and Fonterra were asking for is strikingly similar to the kind of amendment that Paul Goldsmith is talking about.”

The Prime Minister ignored the statement and went back to waffling about the government's role in regulating climate change, which again sounded so ridiculous from a party that has wound back every initiative and has been caught in the act of helping large corporate contributors avoid culpability.

Campbell asked:

“Is it ok if corporations have a direct impact on the wording of legislation, and should that process be transparent and disclosed?”

“Well, I’d be careful saying that, John,” the PM threatened, and I’m sure it had not escaped Campbell’s attention that those who say things they don’t like seem to lose their jobs at our public broadcasters.

Luxon said that he rejected that characterisation completely, and Campbell pounced, asking, “How do you know if you’ve never seen this document? How can you reject something that you had no idea of prior to last night?” Which is a bloody good question.

Again, Luxon went back to blathering about the state's role in climate change, completely ignoring the scandal unfolding before him. At that point, they moved on to the budget.

Until now, we have speculated about the links between lobbyists and political parties, drawing dotted lines based on political “donations”, but this really clarifies what is going on.

No doubt Luxon would disagree with this description, but it looks as though corporate interests are turning up at the PM’s office with the law changes they want, and National goes ahead and implements them, with no regard for the environment or people, and in this case, without even recording the encounter.

Back in 2018, under intense pressure from National, Clare Curran was sacked from Cabinet for failing to record or declare a meeting in her ministerial diary.

If that is the yardstick the National Party uses, Christopher Luxon should be gone by lunchtime. As always, there is a double standard, and they’ll pretend there is nothing to see here.

Have a good Monday, folks. It looks like a lovely day out there.

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

To end today, here’s Eddie Vedder and Chris Martin with Nothingman.