Labour will make Rena owners pay for clean up

A Labour government would make sure the owners of the Rena pay the full amount to clean up the Astrolabe Reef, Labour Leader David Cunliffe says.

“Three-and-a-half-years after the massive container ship ran aground, parts of the wreckage remain on the seabed.

“The Rena’s owners, the Daina Shipping Company, is expected to seek permission to leave the wreck where it lies.

“This is an insult to local iwi, Bay of Plenty leaders and Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby who all want this mess gone.

“Daina Shipping must be made to clean up the wreckage and pay for the cost of doing so.

“A Labour government will clean the reef up. We will make the Rena’s owner pay through any means possible.

“The Government’s offer that the company can leave the wreck where it is if it pays an extra $10.4 million must look attractive.

“Was it the Government or Daina Shipping which floated the idea?

“We’ve just seen the dodgy deal done over Pike River – what kind of a deal will John Key and Energy Minister Simon Bridges do over the Rena?

“Simon Bridges said that in an ‘ideal world’ the Rena would be removed completely.

“Labour will make that ideal world a reality,” David Cunliffe says.

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