A public meeting being held in Whangarei on Sunday will feature five speakers representing key players trying to get the government to take action to keep the Marsden Point oil refinery in operation.
Craig Harrison is secretary of the Maritime Union which represents the seafarers who crewed the two coastal tankers that delivered refined fuel from Marsden Point to ports around the country.
Aaron Holyrood is a senior operator who has spent most of his working life operating the complex equipment that turns crude oil into fuel for cars, trucks, and aircraft.
Brian Cox is the chief executive of the Bio-Energy Association, whose members are involved in research, development, and production of advanced alternative fuels that a working refinery could blend with current fuel production.
Edward Miller is from First Union which represents most of the workers bring made redundant by the closure of the refinery and whose skills and knowledge are being lost to the country as many of them head off for jobs overseas.
Chris Leitch is leader of the Social Credit party which gathered 18,300 signatures on a petition and has lead the political action to highlight the risk to the country’s fuel security that relying on imported refined fuel poses.
The meeting starts at 1pm on Sunday in Whangarei’s Forum North centre.
In the old Brothers’ Grimm version of the Cinderella story, one of the (ugly) sisters chops off some of her toes whilst trying to get her foot into the glass slipper so she can marry the Prince. In other words she self mutilates and this is what the Marsden Point Oil Refinery seems to be doing right now. It’s unbelievable folly to shut down the refinery in such a way.
Especially obvious now China has a strategic foothold in the Solomon Islands and can cut Australian and New Zealand Oil supplies when they choose to do so.
oil has to go BUT BUT BUT get viable replacements in place BEFORE…it’s pretty fuckin basic