Resources Minster Shane Jones has pulled out of a debate on a controversial Otago goldmine, bemusing would-be opponent Sir Ian Taylor.
‘‘I was looking forward to stepping into the boxing ring with the crowing rooster, but it looks like he’s lost his voice,’’ Sir Ian said.
The Dunedin businessman said he was committed to holding the debate regardless, complete with a cardboard cutout of Mr Jones.
Sir Ian and Mr Jones have increasingly traded blows in the media over Santana Minerals’ proposed Bendigo gold mine and its inclusion in the fast-track process, culminating in Mr Jones last month proposing a debate on the matter.
This month, both men confirmed they would take part in a debate centred on the mine, set down for April 8.
However, in a video posted to Facebook yesterday, Mr Jones pulled the pin, saying he would not take part in any debate ‘‘controlled by the Otago media, driven by Sir Ian and the knobs he has on his laptop’’.
In a ‘‘wee poem about bad Sir Ian’’, and referring to himself in the third-person as ‘‘matua’’ throughout, Mr Jones said Sir Ian was looking to control the narrative.
‘‘You do not have the right to demand that Shane Jones play by rules designed to suit you and the small echo chamber that you are a lapdog for, people who hate jobs, people who pull up the ladder, people who are unwilling to trade off and create a minerals-rich future for Kiwis.
‘‘As I said, you create the public space, the matua will debate anyone, anywhere, but I won’t be secreted, concealed in a windowless room for the Otago media or you.
‘‘Have a nice day.’’
Mr Jones’ office confirmed to the Otago Daily Times the minister had pulled out of the debate.
Sir Ian said the move was ‘‘incredibly strange’’, particularly as Mr Jones laid down the challenge.
‘‘All I was saying is why are we fast tracking [the mine] when it appears that the risks may outweigh the rewards,’’ Sir Ian said.
‘‘Let’s have that debate and you may be able to convince me that it’s a good idea.’’
He said the debate was to be held in a studio at his Animation Research business in Dunedin, with free live-streams available through the ODT, national media group Stuff and video-hosting platform Vimeo.
‘‘So this wasn’t a squirreling away in a little room on our own,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a debate where I had quite a few questions to ask the matua and he probably had some to ask me.’’
He said he was confused by Mr Jones’ comments on ‘‘Otago media’’, given the live-stream would have been readily accessible from several national outlets.
‘‘This is being streamed free to the world for any reporter to comment on. Here it is, it’s free. Go for it.’’
Mr Jones, also Fisheries Minister, was forced into a U-turn earlier this week over plans to scrap most minimum size limits for commercial fishers, which he said was the outcome of conversations with NZ First leader Winston Peters.
‘‘My question to Matua Jones is, has [Mr Peters also] spoken to you about this debate and told you, ‘you get out of it any way you can?’,’’ Sir Ian said.
‘‘His way of getting out of it is to write a poem.’’
The debate would go ahead regardless of Mr Jones, Sir Ian said.
‘‘If he doesn’t turn up for the debate, there will be an empty chair in the debating chamber, and we will stream it live to anyone who wants to watch and I will ask the questions that I would have asked him if he was brave enough to turn up.
‘‘I won’t go so far as making an AI digital twin of him, which we could do. We won’t go that far. It’ll probably just be a little cardboard cutout.’’
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