Labour capitulates to Rio Tinto

The Herald reports:

Labour is promising to keep Southland’s Tiwai Point smelter on life support for another three to five years while the Government works to transition the region’s economy.

If re-elected, the party would work to reduce the amount of money the smelter pays for electricity – the major reason why Rio Tinto said it was closing the plant.

This is farcical – Government Ministers personally negotiating how much a company will pay for electricity.

We have an Electricity Authority whose job under the law is to regulate what transmission costs should be.