New Zealand - PM Adern Turns A Hard Left With Ban On Offshore Drilling

With all the lovely PR displays of her pregnancy and the diplomatic answers to interviewers during her ‘honeymoon period’ as Prime Minister of New Zealand, voters were bound to forget that the government of Ms Jacinda Adern was chosen to rule as leftwing (in a coalition with the green party for certain decisions).

It reminded everyone of those credentials yesterday when the government announced it would not grant any new deep-sea oil and gas exploration permits.

In a stunning move to the oil companies present in her country, and without consultation with the industry, Prime Minister Adern stated: "There will be no further offshore oil and gas exploration permits granted."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Unless we make decisions today that essentially take effect in 30 or more years time we run the risk of acting too late and causing abrupt shocks to communities and our country&quot; - Jacinda Ardern. <a href="https://twitter.com/scowlishaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@scowlishaw</a> reports <a href="https://t.co/ne5kobPMrf">https://t.co/ne5kobPMrf</a></p>&mdash; Newsroom (@NewsroomNZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/NewsroomNZ/status/984604606155149318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2018</a></blockquote>

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"We're striking the right balance for New Zealand, we're protecting existing industry, and protecting future generations from climate change."

Related coverage: http://thegoldwater.com/news/22871-New-Zealand-PM-Adern-Admits-Country-Is-Racist-As-F-Video

Members of her cabinet saw this as "an important step to address climate change."

Ms Adern continued: "Transitions have to start somewhere and unless we make decisions today that will essentially take effect in 30 or more years' time, we run the risk of acting too late and causing abrupt shocks to communities and our country."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New Zealand to ban future offshore oil and gas exploration. “There will be no further offshore oil and gas exploration permits granted,” said Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister <a href="https://t.co/aT8pFV0bbf">https://t.co/aT8pFV0bbf</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/FinancialTimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@financialtimes</a></p>&mdash; Mark Campanale (@CampanaleMark) <a href="https://twitter.com/CampanaleMark/status/984321708134985728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2018</a></blockquote>

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With the Labour party and Green party coalition feared as being less business friendly, Oceania’s oil and gas companies now worry about leftwing voices in Australia pushing for a similar move from Prime Minister Turnbull over there.

The Petroleum Exploration & Production Association CEO, Mr Cameron Madgwick reacted: "It shows a complete misunderstanding by the government of how our industry works, These are multi-decadal decisions, there are people here today that are looking forward to the future and what that might look like for their business.”

Source:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/12/new-zealand-set-to-ban-oil-and-gas-drilling.html