Tiwai Point aluminium smelter closure: 'It's a real tragedy for Southland'

Thursday, 9 July 2020

Southland residents discuss their concerns about the closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.

The Invercargill community is concerned about the potential far-reaching economic fallout of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter closing.

Rio Tinto said in an announcement on Thursday it would start planning for the wind-down of operations, and the eventual closure, of New Zealand's Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) following a strategic review which “showed the business is no longer viable given high energy costs and a challenging outlook for the aluminium industry”.

The closure would result in the direct loss of 1000 jobs, with 1600 jobs indirectly connected to the smelter also under threat, the company said.

On the streets of Invercargill on Thursday, members of the public said the decision was terrible for Southland and there were concerns about people leaving the district and there being less money for people to spend.

* Tiwai Point aluminium smelter to close, 1000 jobs to go

Retired Invercargill builder Noel Ruffell said many people would suffer in Southland because of the closure.

* Alarm at small crowd for smelter meeting

Local retailer Suhas Allumpurath Sukumaran expects people will leave the district.

Retired builder Noel Ruffell, of Invercargill, said his step-son has worked at the smelter for 30 years.

Paul McKinlay, a barber, asked why the Government couldn’t help out.

“It’s a real tragedy for Southland,” Ruffell said, adding that a lot of people would suffer.

Suhas Allumpurath Sukumaran, a retailer in Invercargill, said a lot of people would struggle when the smelter closed. It was not a good decision, he said.

Rio Tinto has announced it has started planning for the wind-down of operations and the eventual closure of the Tiwai Point aluminum smelter.

Student Seth Nops said there would be a lot less money in the region.

He believed the closure would be bad for the housing market in Southland and he expected people would leave the district.

Ohai contractor Brendon Connigan said more should have been done to keep the smelter open.

“Rather than the Government spending so much on welfare, they should spend more on keeping people in work,” Connigan said. It was a bad decision, as there were not many jobs around Southland at the moment anyway, Connigan said.

Paul McKinlay, a barber of Invercargill, said people would leave the region.

He asked why the Government spent $10.2 million to save AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand, when he said the smelter meant hundreds of millions of dollars to the Southland economy.

Southern Institute of Technology student Seth Nops, 18 and originally from Waipū in Northland, said there would be a lot less money in the region.

The flow-on effects on the housing market and the loss of workers’ families’ spending money would be damaging, Nops said.

Jennifer Muir, a retiree from West Plains, said it would be difficult for people who lost their jobs to find work in the current climate. She said she would be annoyed if she was one of the workers, and worried about people leaving Southland.