Watts loses energy portfolio amid clashing views on LNG and Lake Onslow

Thursday, 2 April 2026

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s decision to transfer the energy portfolio from Simon Watts to Simeon Brown is likely to make calls for a cross-party consensus on key energy policy harder to fulfil, says Green Party energy spokesperson Scott Willis.

The switch came after Watts dug his heels in over the need for the Government to facilitate a terminal to import LNG in the face of equivocal comments from colleagues including Brown and Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

It also comes after Watts voiced clear support for the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme being referred for potential fast-tracking.

Luxon said he wanted to “elevate the energy portfolio to senior minister Simeon Brown” because of its current importance, implying Watts — who stays as the Minister for Climate Change, Revenue and Local Government and who also becomes Minister for Auckland in today’s reshuffle — did not have that status.

Read more:

• Minister sticks to guns on LNG, saying price outlook for imported gas remains favourable

• Jubilant Lake Onslow backers forecast it can be built by 2034 and slash power bills

• PM says he’ll make final call on LNG terminal, Energy Minister suggests not much has changed

Brown was Minister for Energy up until January of last year and knew the portfolio well, Luxon noted.

Energy Resources Aotearoa, one of the country’s peak energy industry groups, in 2024 called for a cross-party consensus on energy policy - in the wake of the challenges facing the sector that came to a head with the energy crunch that winter.

Scott Willis forecast the appointment of Brown — who will also be National’s campaign chair for the November election — to the energy portfolio, would make that less likely.

“I think it definitely will be hindered. I had tried to work with Simeon. I actually had a much more productive relationship with Simon Watts,” he said. “I think this election is going to be the ‘electric election’ and they will be fighting in their corner for a fossil fuel future.”

Labour energy spokesperson Megan Woods has also been approached for comment.

Brown initially kicked off the work programme under which the Government agreed to facilitate the construction of an LNG terminal in 2024 when he first held the portfolio, but was cooler on Thursday.

The world had changed since the Cabinet agreed to delegate LNG contract negotiations to a group of ministers on February 6, he said.

“The conflict in Iran has changed everything. We will be looking at all of the information and evidence in relation to that decision before proceeding to next steps.”

Watts said he learnt this morning that he was losing the portfolio.

He appeared to insist the LNG initiative remained a done deal, despite Brown’s comments.

“Minister Brown equally understands energy as I do, and we both understand that the key issue and problem with the sector is we don’t have dry-year cover. The only solution that will fix that is an LNG implementation,” he said.

“Cabinet has made a decision in regards to the LNG terminal and that’s the decision which, as minister, I’ve been executing.

“The context of the environment in the Middle East doesn’t have any impact on the LNG terminal and I’ve got advice that confirms that,” he added.

John Carnegie, chief executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa, said New Zealand faced “a massive and worsening gas shortage” that exposed the country to energy insecurity and volatile electricity prices.

“We need a solution that mitigates this risk when affordable alternatives aren’t available at scale.

“Given that we are currently in the middle of a procurement process for an LNG terminal to help mitigate this risk, it’s unhelpful to speculate before a decision is made by the Government. This issue — and the risks we face as a result — doesn’t change depending on who the Minister of Energy is,” he said.

Professor Earl Bardsley, the academic who first identified the potential of the Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme, said it would be interesting to see what Brown’s approach to that scheme would be.

Watts advocated for Lake Onslow to be referred to a fast-track panel for possible fast-tracking, advising large-scale water storage and generation would create downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices and that Lake Onslow would have “significant national benefits in terms of climate mitigation”.

But Bardsley noted Brown had terminated the former government’s NZ Battery Project, which involved investigating Lake Onslow along with alternative ways to bridge the dry-year gap, when he first held the energy portfolio.

Brown said in 2023 that “industry experts” had warned that if Lake Onslow went ahead it would have a chilling effect on the pipeline of renewable electricity generation in New Zealand.

One of the country’s largest solar power developers, Lodestone Energy, has since voiced support for the scheme being fast-tracked.

Keith Turner, the former Meridian chief executive and Transpower chairman who is leading the consortium attempting to build Lake Onslow, said he had no comment on ministerial appointments.