Resources Minister Shane Jones was full of it when he was on Newstalk ZB this morning, talking about the Government's plan to lift the ban on oil and gas exploration.

He said you and I have two choices.

We can either go with the people he calls the "lotus-eaters". These are the people who are outraged that the Government is lifting the ban. People he says have been fed and swallowed the line about climate change, and oil and gas being the baddies.

Or, he says, we can go with the Government - which is going all “you can’t stop progress” on it. And I’ll tell you right now - I’m with the lotus eaters. And I’ll tell you why shortly.

But a bit of background first. You’ll remember how, back in 2018, the former Labour-led government pulled the pin, saying it didn't make sense to crow about tackling climate change and - at the same time - allow the energy companies to keep plundering the natural environment.

And, before the election last year, noises were made about ditching the ban. And, yesterday, the Government delivered. Or it announced or confirmed its intention to deliver, anyway.

And the Government reckons it will have it across the line sometime later this year.

Which has the energy companies delighted, of course.

Someone who isn't delighted, though, is Megan Woods. She was Energy Minister back in 2018 when the Labour/NZ First coalition government put the kibosh on further exploration.

Which Shane Jones claimed this morning took him and Winston by surprise. And he doesn’t want to take anyone by surprise this time around. Which is why the ban won't be lifted overnight but (as we say here in New Zealand), it will happen.

So, as soon as the Government made the announcement yesterday, Megan Woods was on the attack saying the Government is continuing what she called “its mindless charge toward giving fossil fuel companies free reign”.

She went on to say: “Climate change is the number one issue facing New Zealand, and Minister Jones is hell bent on ignoring options of energy that are future-proofed and up to global standards.

“New Zealand is being taken backwards. This government is being cruel to future generations, this will take decades to undo – if the damage can be undone at all.” So that was the fiery talk from Megan Woods yesterday.

Not surprisingly, the Green Party was just as fired up.

Not that that has Shane Jones worried. He says the chopice is simple. Do you want tpo go with the Government or the lotus-eaters?

I’m with the lotus eaters which, if you were listening to the conversation we had a few weeks back about extracting more minerals on the West Coast and here in Canterbury, you might think is a bit of a contradiction.

Because I’m all in favour of us taking a look at what’s under the bonnet when it comes to minerals under the ground, because that’s where the future is.

So much so, that middle eastern countries want to pour money into mineral extraction in Australia because they know that oil is a dead-end game to be involved in. Long term, anyway.

And it’s for that very same reason that I think the Government is barking up the wrong tree giving the green light for more oil and gas exploration. It’s only doing it because it was part of the coalition deal. But it’s not going to attract that big investment Shane Jones seems to think it will.

Because, in three years time, if we have a change of government, the ban will be back in place. And the energy companies will know that - and do you really think they’re going to fall for all the bluster and talk from Shane Jones? Of course, they won’t.

And I think Shane Jones knows that himself too. But he can’t say it, of course. Because he was talking this morning about wanting to secure long-term contracts with oil and gas companies. Which smells to me like Rio Tinto and the aluminium smelter all over again.

Because if these companies are going to sign long term contracts - knowing the political risk involved - then they are going to be wanting all the sweeteners in the world, aren’t they?

And the Minister’s talk about securing long-term contracts is just code for New Zealand giving the oil and gas companies whatever they want, just to get some ink on the dotted line.

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National’s Vanessa Weenink and Labour’s Reuben Davidson joined John MacDonald to dig into the biggest political stories of the week.

Nicola Willis believes that it is a politician's job to provide hope for their citizens, do they agree as we head towards next week’s Budget?

Is mining on the West Coast a good idea to boost the local economy, or does there need to be more consideration of the environmental impact?

And it looks like the first home buyers grant is set to be axed in favour of funding social housing, are people being let down?

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Who would think that former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and current Finance Minister Nicola Willis could agree on anything? But it seems they do.

Both of them think that it’s the job of politicians to give people hope. I think that’s wishful thinking on their part.

When Grant Robertson gave his valedictory speech two months ago before leaving Parliament to become Vice-Chancellor at the University of Otago, he said: “You’ve got to give them hope”.

He said: “That is our job in this place: to give people hope. To give hope to those who seek a better tomorrow for their families and communities, to give hope to everyone that they can be who they are and live free of discrimination, and to give hope to those who have none.”

And then yesterday, in her pre-Budget speech, Nicola Willis said the thing New Zealanders need most right now is "hope that tomorrow will be better".

Well I tell you what, unless Nicola Willis announces next week that the guy with the thick accent who called her on a crackly line from Nigeria saying he had $200 billion to gift to New Zealand - unless she announces that it wasn’t actually a scam and the money’s already in the bank, then don’t expect me to say today that I’m hopeful about where New Zealand is heading.

And, as for what Grant Robertson said about it being the job of MPs to give people hope - well, that might be the theory, but we’re deluded if we expect politicians to change our worlds.

I remember on the night of the 1984 election, and I was just about to drop out of school. I say “drop out” because, now that I look back on it, that’s what I was doing.

I had scraped through three school certificate subjects, failed two, and the last place I wanted to be was school, especially the school I was at. So, my parents agreed to let me leave and start working at the little shop they ran in Dunedin.

And I remember on the night of that 1984 election, we were all sitting around the TV watching David Lange make his big victory speech and I remember my mother turning around to me and saying that if Labour hadn’t won, I wouldn’t be leaving school.

That was the hope she had that the change in government was going to make it a better place. As we know, though, that night in 1984 was the starting point in a time of significant upheaval and turmoil.

Forty years on from then, here we are in another state of upheaval and turmoil.

And I think Nicola Willis is dreaming if she expects us to have hope. And I think Grant Robertson was big on theory when he said it’s the job of politicians to give people hope - but he was dreaming too.

Because what gives people hope is sentiment. Not policies, not slogans, and certainly not politicians. And anyone whose hope level is dictated by the weasel words of politicians is only setting themselves up for disappointment.

So, on the basis of hope being based on sentiment, you’ve got to say that the sentiment right now in New Zealand is far from hopeful.

And I’m not just basing that on how things are for me, personally, because I’m actually at a stage in life where we no longer have all the expenses that come with having kids at school. We own a house. The big $400-$500 shops at Pak ‘n’ Save only happen during the university holidays, not all the time.

Yes, things are blimmin’ expensive and we’ve done what a lot of people seem to have been doing recently and we’ve ditched Netflix and Neon and all those things. But that’s largely because we can - not because we have to. Not because it comes down to Netflix or a loaf of bread.

So you could say that I have more reasons than a lot of people to be hopeful.

But I don’t. Because I’m looking at this obsession with government cost-cutting and I’m asking, ‘where’s the thinking behind it, other than simplistic numbers and percentages?”. And the answer to that, is there isn’t.

I’m not hopeful because I look around and see infrastructure falling to pieces around our ears.

I’m not hopeful because businesses are in survival mode, trying to stay afloat in an oily rag economy.

And I’m certainly not hopeful when politicians tell me that hope is what I need most, and that they’re going to deliver it.

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