I think we already know that Shane Jones is what we’d roughly call, a loose unit.

 

He speaks seemingly off the cuff, without much regard for the consequences. And actually perhaps that’s because there never are any. He took a stab at Air NZ’s CEO.. nothing happened, slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket. The Warehouses leadership, Fletchers, no business seems immune to his digs, and he gets away with it. Yesterday another one. This time Fonterra’s CEO. Not only that, he also took a stab at his own government. Is he emboldened by the pending Prime Ministership of his wingman Winston Peters? Is he playing on the fact that Jacinda Ardern’s off to have a baby and may not notice his antics? Is he just making sure he stays in the news cycle given the fallout over his regional development fund allocations to the regions has died down?

 

Who would know?

 

He said of Fonterra, that the chairman should catch the next cab out of town. Appealing to farmers while at Fieldays? Possibly.

 

This is, of course, a reminder of his similar rhetoric for Air NZ’s chairman and CEO.. that they should step down and stay out of politics.

 

But he hasn’t minced his words with Fonterra. He says he’s been “bloody disappointed” that the leadership hasn’t accepted the new government. He said he’s had a gutsful of them believing they’re bigger than what they are. Hey Shane, takes one to know one maybe? He talked about the “enormous amount of dough” the chairman has presided over. Again, this is sounding similar to someone else I know overseeing large amounts of money at the moment.

 

But in the ultimate irony, in a week where Winston Peters, acting PM, is suing his own government, Shane Jones has also put the boot into the government. He said that in his view, we have enough inquiries, enough commissions and he won’t support any more. Surely a sore point for a government already under fire for starting so many inquiries, the criticism over which has largely come from the opposition.. not from in-house.

 

Not done with insulting his own government, he had a parting jibe for economists too.. he called them “guesstimators” who weren’t very good at maths.

 

And all this, in a week where the Greens are revolting and in fighting over Eugenie Sage’s decision to allow a Chinese water bottler to expand.

 

Jacinda Ardern said this week that if her baby doesn’t arrive on time she’ll get it induced. I think at this point that if her government continues with this sort of shenanigans she won't be needing any induction, her labour's likely to come on sooner rather than later.