You can never have enough...

[Jan]

Your post Hunni has a lot of relevance to what is spinning around in my head - politics and their unintended consequences that often go under the radar .The previous govt decided the use of our natural gas had to come to an end so many industries like Pan PAC had to remove their gas lines which they switched to if the electricity supply was compromised - stopping the production of pulp midway through a run is horrendous - so when electricity supply could not be guaranteed the mill has shut down - 1000 manufacturing jobs plus hundreds of connected jobs like drivers because the previous govt took away the alternative .My son has one of the few remaining privately owned sawmills he has had to cut his staff back by one day not because he is worried about profits but because all his waste products go to PanPac - if he doesn’t remove it daily his insurance in invalid plus the council will prosecute him .So the damage to manufacturing jobs is not only those directly employed at PanPac but 280 workers in Ohakune plus 150 employed by my son - workers at the port plus truck drivers - it is rippling out all over Hawke’s Bay .It’s not only the timber industry - Robie had to remove his emergency gas line to his Bakery - so he now faces the risk of the power going off mid bake with no gas connection to fall back on .Labour claimed stopping the use of our own Natural gas is to reduce emissions - so now we have PanPac closed 100% of the log harvest being shipped to China - instead of only 30% - in ships fuelled by fossil fuel - the logs processed to cardboard in China using dirty coal and then the product comes back to NZ on another ship guzzling diesel and this is better than using our own natural gas - costing hundreds of manufacturing jobs - these workers aren’t like state servants with options - these are people desperately needing these manufacturing jobs - where are 280 men in Ohakune going to go as they watch the logs they used to process go to China on a ship polluting the world then workers in China processing the product burning dirty coal then back the ship comes -
Yes we all know that we are running out of time to clean up our planet but politicians have absolutely no regard for the damage they are doing introducing policy that is no more than virtue signalling- in essence Labour do not want kiwi manufacturing to continue if it means we utilise our natural gas supplies but it’s OK to import dirty coal to run Huntly and it’s OK to increase pollution sending our product to China .It’s not about profits it’s about common sense - these manufacturing jobs in the timber industry are the only option for these kiwis - destroying their lives for no gain to the climate is just plain stupidity
One thing is for sure the report that came out recently regarding the Police response during Gabrielle absolutely incensed the people of the Bay as it proved what many thought was true that Hipkins lied repeatedly was bad enough but seeing PanPac not operating - they have been closed 14 months rebuilding after Gabrielle - Labour will certainly struggle to regain their long held parliamentary seat