Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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Forums › Politics › Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister 2023

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#3410627 3-Sep-2025 07:22

@SaltyNZ:

It takes between $1-$3B to construct a nation-wide cellular network including its datacentres, which employs between 1,000-2,000 people. I'd be very interested to know how even a giant AWS datacentre could cost $7.5B and create 1,000 jobs. I guess if you were building the site from scratch then about 1,000 people might have touched it at some point during the construction but most of them would be subcontractors brought in to do a specific bit. Ongoing operations for a data centre? Couple of dozen people assuming you wanted it manned round the clock and had Amazon level budget to splash around.

The original claim was 1,000 jobs for people being upskilled in cloud technologies and finding jobs in public and private sectors. This is not the building.

To be fair this was also in the original 2021 plans.

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#3410637 3-Sep-2025 08:25

Ah, ok, that makes some sort of sense I guess (even if they didn't need to build a DC here in order for that to happen).

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#3410640 3-Sep-2025 08:57

freitasm:

The original claim was 1,000 jobs for people being upskilled in cloud technologies and finding jobs in public and private sectors. This is not the building.

To be fair this was also in the original 2021 plans.

I suspects it's even loser than that. I think is estimates any flow on jobs that may occur...including a supermarket adding a new checkout operator.

The power consumption will be putting consumers at risk, I am sure that the "fines" for not having 1-5MW continuous power will be quite large, so much so that domestic consumers will be the first to lose power if there is a shortage.

Add onto this Natural gas being scales back enormously , these people will mover the Electricity, and we talking a LOT of increased needs
Then heat pumps will be used in summer too, adding an additional large load that had not been there before during those summer months, so lakes will NOT have time to refill properly.
Then we get into Electric Vehicles...

I believe that much of the electricity infrastructure is in need of upgrades, so jobs there I guess, but that cost will be passed directly onto the consumer.

All things considered, domestic electricity could easily double because of all of the flow on effects.

freitasm

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#3411344 4-Sep-2025 22:25

The incompetence is astounding.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572116/budget-documents-find-8-point-5-billion-gap-between-costs-and-savings

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#3411420 5-Sep-2025 08:35

I will give them credit for pushing this: supercritical water from ultra deep bores into geothermal systems. Not because Shane Jones believes in climate change, of course, but rather because there's another resource not yet exploited. Still, I completely agree it's worth the experiment. Paywalled article.

This week, Science Minister Shane Reti is set to announce $10 million funding from the Endeavour Fund for scientists from the new Earth Sciences NZ public research organisation and the country’s leading universities. Their work is to help the Government punch an exploratory well four to six kilometres beneath the earth’s crust, likely at Rotokawa, north-east of Taupō.

...

Resources Minister Shane Jones says he met last month with the Tauhara trust and Ngāti Tahu–Ngāti Whaoa iwi representatives. ... Jones argues local Māori will see the benefits of supercritical in delivering new baseload power so the country doesn’t have to rely on importing Indonesian coal, and to drive down the price of electricity.

...

Geothermal energy is sourced from extremely hot rock heated by magma. Conventional geothermal wells are drilled to a maximum depth of about 3.5km. Scientists believe by drilling beyond this, possibly to 6km deep, they can hit supercritical and the energy output could be up to three times greater than traditional geothermal energy generated from steam.

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#3411738 6-Sep-2025 07:06

https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/06/the-secret-diary-of-luxons-last-days/

(referring to the lifting of the foreign buyers ban):

We caught up this morning and I’ve been showing him around some really beautiful homes for sale. He wants to buy with the aim of renting them out for astronomical sums, and that’s got to be good for the economy and to get New Zealand moving.

It’s important to give vendors a bit of space so I’ll leave him alone for a bit while I make an exciting announcement that Amazon signed a deal with New Zealand four years ago.

Steve Braunias gives a brutal assessment of Luxon's week.

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#3411878 6-Sep-2025 14:47

Where in the world are Amazon 2021 announced mega data centers ?
If below from the platform/newsroom is correct.

Construction stopped 6 months ago and the workers cabins removed.

Amazon apparently just, rented racks in others existing facilities?
Amazon may have been using this pitch to get Auckland Council and business to support massive Auckland investment.
Possibly a bunch of Government contracts and such for being so spendy.

Now the bait and switch to renting existing space, for NZ sensitive data, and Aussie is just a ping away for everything else.

Luxon seems to be gearing up for election by going around making announcements about old projects as if they were new.
Cost cutting by Government may not be giving anyone good vibes on putting in large new infrastructure.
Power price trajectory, and no prospect of near term pumped hydro or projects that may even out power costs may not have helped.

Jonathan Milne On The Truth About Amazon's New Zealand Data Centre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybTFziDFhyQ

https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/02/amazon-aborts-construction-of-west-auckland-data-centre/

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#3412116 7-Sep-2025 07:31

https://archive.ph/seerG

The runway for the recovery to gather enough momentum for voters to actually feel better off is getting precariously short.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis have staked their reputations on turning this economy around. They’ve had a sizeable window in which to blame the last Government.
I think if I were a National MP worried about the next election, I’d be inclined to wait and see if the economy starts turning as it is forecast to – in the next three months.
But this is a crucial window, and it is a tight one.
It’s not enough just to see the leading indicators turn positive.
We saw that with the United States elections last year. Members of the public are not impressed by economists telling them that things are improving.
People have to feel it for themselves – either directly in their wallets or indirectly through a significant nationwide shift in the vibe.

I'm inclined to agree with this opinion piece - Luxon and co are running out of time to show they've made a difference.

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#3416068 19-Sep-2025 09:27

https://archive.ph/BylKR

A scathing assessment of Luxon where Matthew Hooton argues that he should go, otherwise next election Labour has a strong chance of winning.

This from a Government that claimed to be led by a global expert in turnaround jobs, promised to get New Zealand back on track and believed its mere election would rebuild business confidence to prompt an immediate economic boom to pay for its promises.

In fact, the economy has now completely crashed off the track.

Luxon’s excruciating economic pep talks probably make things worse by demonstrating to investors and businesspeople how out of touch he really is.

As recently as this week, he claimed a “two-speed recovery” was under way, with the South Island and provinces doing well but things “a bit harder” in Auckland and Wellington.

“There’s a real sense of optimism,” Luxon said, “thanks to strong dairy prices and resurgent tourism. Businesses are humming, retail sales are growing, and construction activity remains strong.”

Aucklanders were just “impatient”, their Prime Minister told them.

freitasm

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#3416115 19-Sep-2025 09:41

This government is a train-wreck.

Enough said.

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#3416116 19-Sep-2025 09:42

Why is the economy so shit? | The Spinoff

New Zealand’s GDP figures for the June quarter were released this morning to a rousing chorus of boos, groans and cries of “fml”. The economy contracted 0.9%, three times the 0.3% stupidly predicted by the stupid Reserve Bank. Everywhere you looked, it was bad news. Manufacturing: down 3.5%. Construction: down 1.8%. Service industries: flat. Butter prices: through the bloody roof.

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#3416117 19-Sep-2025 09:44

freitasm:

This government is a train-wreck.

Enough said.

No surprises to hear that Nicola Willis thinks she's doing a great job, as Luxon has her back:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/573531/nicola-willis-rejects-accusations-she-is-doing-nothing-for-a-tanking-economy

Tone-deaf much?

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#3416164 19-Sep-2025 09:49

quickymart:

freitasm:

This government is a train-wreck.

Enough said.

No surprises to hear that Nicola Willis thinks she's doing a great job, as Luxon has her back:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/573531/nicola-willis-rejects-accusations-she-is-doing-nothing-for-a-tanking-economy

Tone-deaf much?

Reminds me of another country, no clues needed.

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#3416173 19-Sep-2025 10:19

quickymart: A scathing assessment of Luxon where Matthew Hooton argues that he should go, otherwise next election Labour has a strong chance of winning.

With Shane Jones putting on the Trump-like hats and ACT going hard-right it's pretty clear Luxon will be counting on them to increase their vote. It's clear both parties will have even more influence in the next government. Hooten is a political consultant for hire and probably working for his preferred candidate already

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#3416211 19-Sep-2025 11:42

gzt: Hooten is a political consultant for hire and probably working for his preferred candidate already

This is true, although what I find ironic is he used to run campaigns for both National and ACT. I don't think he's gone to Labour's side these days though.

I also note that he doesn't specify someone who he thinks should be replacing Luxon - the way things are going though unless things with the economy change/improve drastically I think Nicola Willis's star may start to fade.

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