Tiwai Point

David Shearer in his big speech last week said:

Tiwai point could have been an obsolete aluminium smelter decades ago, but it didn’t work out that way.

That’s because management and workers at NZ Aluminium came together and looked at what they had to do to keep the operation running.

Through their ingenuity they began producing the highest quality aluminium in the world. They identified their niche, they got the business, they scored the contracts 
and today everyone shares in the success.

They are well paid for working well and it’s an important business in a regional area.

It is good to see a Labour leader championing Tiwai Point.

But there is a problem. Labour’s ETS policy would close Tiwai Point down. Labour opposed the changes National made to the ETS to protect trade-exposed industries, and their policy is still to undo those changes.

So the poster boy employer heralded by David Shearer would close down under their policies. Whoops.