Larry Williams Drive

We got a rare bit of good economic news today hearing that Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter is committed to staying here for at least another 20 years.   Normally, I don't have a lot for time for Tiwai. And that’s largely because of how the owners have behaved in the past: threatening to leave, going cap in hand to the government, getting saved, then a few years later threatening to leave again... getting some assistance, then a few years later threatening to leave again.   So, I'm always tempted to be hard on them. But this time... I'm actually relieved that those three electricity companies - Meridian, Contact and Mercury - have come to the party to keep Tiwai point going. Simply because we can’t afford to lose such a big manufacturer.  It's not a particularly sexy subject, so it doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.   But we have lost a lot of manufacturers out this country... to the point that we should actually be quite worried about it. Marsden Point has been closed.  There have been threats that Glenbro