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# Is This Pork Barrel Politics?
- URL: https://goodoil.news/is-this-pork-barrel-politics/
- Published: 2026-11-04T20:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T20:29:59.000Z
- Description: It sounds less like a scientific inquiry and a lot more like a government quietly laying the tracks, funding the surveys, and preparing the ground for de facto Māori ownership of public energy resources.
- Author: Reproduced with permission
- Tags: NZ Politics, Economy, NZ First, Energy

[**Pee Kay**](https://nominister.wordpress.com/2026/11/04/pork-barrel-politics/?ref=goodoil.news)  
*No Minister*

Is this not typical, unvarnished pork barrel politics from New Zealand First, yet again cutting up the taxpayer pie to buy regional relevance just in time for the election?

Now, surely this will be seen as a remarkably convenient pre-election handout?

Regional Development Minister Shane Jones stands on a podium somewhere and begins tossing millions of taxpayers dollars at a pair of **“exploration”** projects under the guise of addressing **“…gaps in geothermal knowledge…”**.

Gaps in knowledge? Let’s be real Shane.

The New Zealand State Hydro Department, which later became the New Zealand Electricity Department, first harnessed geothermal energy to generate electricity in the Taupō area all the way back in 1950, constructing the iconic Wairakei Power Station shortly after. Are we seriously expected to believe that a government department with 76 years of industrial scale expertise managing geothermal power generation is suddenly scratching its head over the Waimangu geothermal system?

Then we get to the real Shane Jones’ bureaucratic poetry of the announcement: **“supporting iwi and hapū aspirations for geothermal resources”** and **“supporting iwi-led stewardship and providing a stronger evidence base for future decisions”**.

Strip away the Shane Jones’ rhetoric and the corporate gloss, and what does that actually mean?

It sounds less like a scientific inquiry and a lot more like a government quietly laying the tracks, funding the surveys, and preparing the ground for de facto Māori ownership of public energy resources.

Ultimately, isn’t this simply classic, vintage New Zealand First strategy. As the general election approaches, the party’s standard operating procedure dictates that taxpayer funds must flow generously into key regional pockets to secure vital provincial votes.

By framing these multi-million-dollar handouts as visionary ‘**long-term infrastructure**’, New Zealand First attempts to purchase electoral relevance in a specific area, for a specific voter group, using the public purse, leaving ordinary New Zealanders to pick up the tab for what looks suspiciously like expensive political self-preservation.

[https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-backing-iwi-led-geothermal-potential](https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-backing-iwi-led-geothermal-potential?ref=goodoil.news)

This article was originally published by [No Minister](https://nominister.wordpress.com/2026/11/04/pork-barrel-politics/?ref=goodoil.news).