April 02, 2013
Smelter closure would hit Māori workforce
Greens Co-leader Metiria Turei says the Government is falling down on the job by failing to plan for what happens if the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter were to close.
Owner Rio Tinto has broken off negotiations with the Government over a subsidy to keep the smelter open, and it has gone back to try to get a lower electricity price out of Meridian Energy.
Ms Turei says there is a real prospect of the smelter closing, but there are no contingency plans or investment to create new jobs and industries in Southland.
That could hurt many Māori.
“There are heaps of Māori whānau who will rely on the smelter in some form, either because they have worked there or work in the satellite businesses that tend to pop around big industries. Māori also are more likely not to get other work when we lose jobs,” she says.
Metiria Turei says this year has been terrible for Māori job prospects, with closures at the Kawerau Pulp Mill and the Hillside railway workshops in Dunedin also putting many Māori in the dole queue.
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