I don’t blame Chris Hipkins and Co. for a moment, calling it a gas tax.

That’s politics when you are in Opposition, especially when you have no policies yourself.

What I despair about is yet another chapter of myopic nonsense around dumb words for cheap points.

The truth is comparatively simple and most of it is indisputable: we need more power supply than we have.

We need more reliable power supply than we have. We got caught dangerously short in the winter of 2024.

Labour, in turning off the gas, wrecked the industry and caused untold damage.

The Huntly coal deal is part of the solution.

An LNG importation facility is another part. We need a power supply tap because hydro, wind, and solar isn't it. Even if it's the bulk of supply, it's reliant on things we can't control.

So far so good, we all agree.

The cost of LNG is a billion-ish. Someone has to pay. The Government could pay by borrowing more but, wisely, they choose not to.

The industry could pay through a levy. That is what we have chosen.

Will they pass it on? Yes, why wouldn’t they?

Do you like that? No, why would you?

But at all times we come back to the basic issue: do you want heating in winter, every winter, like a first world country?

Do you want business to be able to operate at full capacity like a first world country?

So it isn't a tax. A tax is a forced payment by Government, that’s not what this is.

It's an increased power bill to eventually get a power bill that wouldn’t have been as high if we hadn't built a back stop for supply.

It's the cost of rectifying an embarrassing wrong. You might want to remember that when you vote.

Fixing broken stuff costs money. It's human to want others to pay for stuff but that’s not how life works.

If you want a spot price of $800 in the dead of winter, the highest price in the world, then doing nothing will work well.

We need more emphasis on the future, and on improvement, and less on the petty and the political point-scoring.

I wouldn’t have thought any of that is complicated.

You might not be thrilled, but it's not complicated.

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Grammy winning country pop star Maren Morris has made her way to New Zealand as a headlining act.

After starting at just 15 years old, her 20 year career has seen her break boundaries, win numerous awards, and producing multiplatinum and gold certified music.

Morris is a few shows into her ‘Dreamsicle’ tour, having performed in Australia and Auckland, with one more show in Christchurch before she hops over to the States.

She told Mike Hosking headlining her own tour has been incredible.

“We’ve only done a handful of shows, but the crowds are so energetic, and they’re also a listening crowd,” Morris explained.

“They really want to hear the stories behind the songs and how they were written ... it’s a great balance of like, y’know, they want to hear the backstories, but they’re also having fun and dancing.”

“It’s a perfect crowd.”

Morris’ career started early, but that doesn’t mean her success came early as well, which she says made the transition easier to handle.

“Nothing of my career has happened overnight, or has been like, too quick to digest.”

“The saying in Nashville is that it’s a ten-year town, so it takes ten years for most of the successful people to even have a song or album that resonates,” Morris told Hosking.

“I think there’s obviously with any big success, there is a dose of timing and luck, all of those things.”

“You just have to keep going and keep your eye on the target because it is ever moving.”

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Signs of growing positivity from New Zealand's small and medium sized businesses.

A new report from MYOB reveals that 33% of SMEs polled have more work or sales lined up for the first quarter than usual, and a further 40% say they have the amount they’d normally expect.

The green shoots are showing up in sectors that have struggled of late, including manufacturers, retail, and construction.

ABC Business Sales CEO Chris Small told Mike Hosking the vibe is incredibly positive, especially in comparison to the last two years.

He says that this time last year they had high volumes of business owners saying their earnings were down and they weren’t going to take their business to market, but now those business owners are reporting strong previous quarters.

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