The government offered to pay millions of dollars to Rio Tinto just months after promising in the election campaign it would not give a direct subsidy.Ardern made a commitment to voters. Her government then proceeded to violate that commitment. And quibbling over the definition of a "subsidy" just makes them look even more dishonest. This behaviour corrodes political trust, and (probably of more interest to politicians) political support. Why believe the "promises" of a politician who has already been shown to have lied to you? Why be the sucker in their political scam? You can only fool people for so long before they get sick of it, and vote for someone else (or not vote at all) just as a "fuck you".[...]
While campaigning in Southland ahead of the 2020 election Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: "We have said we do not believe we should be giving a direct government subsidy to Rio Tinto, so that's not what we will be doing."
Three months later, the government wrote to Rio Tinto, which owns 80 percent of New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS), with an offer of a payment to begin the very next month, in January this year.
"To achieve a managed exit for the smelter and in consideration of our respective interests, the New Zealand government will provide a Transmission Transition payment to NZAS of [blanked out]," it said.
"This payment would start from January 2021 until December 2024."
Politicians are the only people with the power to change this dynamic. And they change it by being honest. Not just in keeping their commitments, but also telling us when the circumstances change and they can't (or don't want to). That's hard work, and politicians think explaining is losing. But not explaining is losing too, just in a different way.