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Speaker 1: Ever do for z Ellen.

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Speaker 2: More bad news unfortunately for central North Island regions. In

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Speaker 2: the last hour method X has announced it's planning to

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Speaker 2: scale down its operation. It's going to cut staff and

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Speaker 2: it's going to move from two plants down to one. Now.

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Speaker 2: This is, unfortunately, just one day after Windstone announced it's

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Speaker 2: going to close its two mills in the rou A

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Speaker 2: Peahoo district. New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdham is with me

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Speaker 2: on this. Hey, Neil, gooday, Neil. There were rumors right,

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Speaker 2: and they've been doing the rounds for a little while.

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Speaker 2: Did you see this coming? Oh?

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Speaker 1: We look, we saw this coming in twenty eighteen with

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Speaker 1: the last government's flawed energy policy. This is a direct

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Speaker 1: and logical consequence. It was always going to happen. We

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Speaker 1: told them it would happen. Our omissions are going up

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Speaker 1: and New Zealand manufacturers are suffering. And what astounds me

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Speaker 1: is that in the face of you know, basically this

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Speaker 1: is a policy which is going to shut down New

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Speaker 1: Zealand manufacturing. That and I went and spoke with Chris

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Speaker 1: Upkins and Meghan Woods and Labor and said, come on,

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Speaker 1: you've seen the evidence. Can you actually change your policy.

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Speaker 1: Let's find a middle way, work with the opposition, I mean,

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Speaker 1: work with the government, and let's get out there and

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Speaker 1: get some gas and get people working again and we

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Speaker 1: can get emissions down. And the response I got is

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Speaker 1: it's a bottom line, we're not going to change it.

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Speaker 2: Well is the gas to get though, because I mean,

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Speaker 2: I am very sympathetic to your argument. But Richard Tweedy,

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Speaker 2: formerly of Toddy Energy, spoke yesterday to Business Desk and

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Speaker 2: said that just isn't gas. We're running out.

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Speaker 1: Well, the reality is we've had since since twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 1: the incentives to go looking for it haven't been there.

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Speaker 1: You know, there was some work done to chase after

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Speaker 1: you know, the stuff that was already kind of in development.

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Speaker 1: But you know, we know that if we were out

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Speaker 1: looking and looking hard and there was a long term,

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Speaker 1: you know, a positive long term outlook that that I

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Speaker 1: sort of went through the electoral cycles, that there would

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Speaker 1: be more gas out there. The reality is the last

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Speaker 1: government wanted to turn off the tap. And you know

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Speaker 1: what astounds me. I saw the unions in terms of

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Speaker 1: the mills having a crack at the current government. But

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Speaker 1: they need to be asking. You know, these politicians that

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Speaker 1: they support well what's your policy going to do for us?

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Speaker 1: Because don't think this is the last one. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the dairy workers were at their just Transition event and

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Speaker 1: I said, how are we going to dry millions and

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Speaker 1: millions of leaders of milk power milk every year during

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Speaker 1: the flush and keep everybody working in the dairy factories

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Speaker 1: if the price of energy goes through the roof? And

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Speaker 1: how are we going to keep our emissions down if

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Speaker 1: we're replacing gas with coal? And you know the answer

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Speaker 1: I got was, oh, you know that that's a good question, Neil,

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Speaker 1: but we're not sure that there's a future for the

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Speaker 1: dairy industry anyway.

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Speaker 2: And it was like you what, yeah, cookie stuff, what's

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Speaker 2: it going to do this methan X decision? What's this

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Speaker 2: going to do to your region?

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Speaker 1: Look, it's it's that there's I think potentially around seventy

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Speaker 1: good hard working Kiwis are going to lose their jobs.

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Speaker 1: And they're really good jobs at Mechnics, they're well looked after.

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Speaker 1: The other thing is Mechanics has historically anchored the gas

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Speaker 1: expiration in New Zealand because they basically say we'll buy

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Speaker 1: everything that you can produce. So it's good that methanicks

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Speaker 1: have said, we're still going to you know, we're still

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Speaker 1: hanging on by our fingernails, and there is an opportunity

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Speaker 1: for the opposition to step up and say to New

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Speaker 1: Zealand as we're going to put our you know, we're

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Speaker 1: going to put our country before our party political objectives

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Speaker 1: and do the right thing. And that's you know, I've

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Speaker 1: asked for another meeting with presciptions. He's shown that he

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Speaker 1: can be pragmatic and I have you know, confidence that eventually,

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Speaker 1: if you know, if people see the evidence of poor

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Speaker 1: decision making, eventually they will change their minds so that

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Speaker 1: that really is what we need. And then I believe that,

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Speaker 1: you know, with the with both sides of the House

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Speaker 1: admitting to an energy policy that keeps New Zealanders at

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Speaker 1: work and allows us to manufacture that we will be

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Speaker 1: able to attract investment and find more gas and then

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Speaker 1: we don't need to import Indonesian colt.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well make a very good argument, Neil. Thank you,

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Speaker 2: Neil Holdham, you Plymouth Mayor.

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Speaker 1: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 1: news Talks.

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Speaker 2: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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