Ditch Blackrock

Yesterday Hipkins announced a two billion dollar deal with international investment firm Blackrock.

Hipkins also said it was as a result of work by the government over the last couple of months that brought the deal together to be announced conveniently in the weeks leading up to the election.

There is still no explanation from Jacinda Ardern as to what she was doing at Blackrock Office in New York in May last year and official information requests for any minutes of the prime ministerial diary and a list of participants are returned with the response “This information does not exist.”

Without answers to those question the obvious question is whether work on the deal started then rather than a couple of months ago.

That’s more likely and raises the question as to whether certain parties who knew the deal was on the way had the means to advantage people they told, even if not in specific detail.

This removes the confidentiality of cabinet situation that cast a dim shadow over both Kris Faafoi and Stuart Nash.

If there are already a number of projects in train awaiting approval or finance, the government or one part of our co-governance, may have unfairly given a commercial advantage or a privileged position to certain groups of people.

There is a morality to the deal that Hipkins may have overlooked and perhaps worse than exporting goods to the biggest climate change offenders NZ is now receiving assistance from an international company that invests in fossil fuels worldwide.

BlackRock investing in such a noble project might equally be seen as virtue signalling over the top of its offending.

“Our country needs Nationalism with a capital “N” – that means putting our country first and making locally controlled infrastructure investment a priority.” Said, Winston Peters.

Oddly enough, this particular issue puts David Seymour in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with David Seymour while Luxon appears to be quite happy with the arrangement.

The chances of this getting washed away in the election – very high and forgotten about – very likely until the first time the nature of what has been agreed to bites someone.