‘Pistol pointed at Point’
PA Wellington Legislation deregulating the New Zealand oil industry was a pistol pointed at the heart of the nation’s oil refinery at Marsden Point, the Opposition said last evening. As Parliament took urgency to pass the Petroleum Sector Reform Bill through all its stages, the Opposition spokesman on energy, Mr Merv Wellington (Papakura) said that if the bill was passed there would be no guarantee of continuity of petrol supplies. The bill will allow cheap imports from overseas to enter New Zealand and allow competition by removing price controls on motor spirits. Mr Wellington said the refinery depended on throughput for its efficiency. Once the refinery
lost volume, it would lose efficiency.
“The bill is simply playing Russian roulette with one of the finest strategic assets New Zealand has,” he told the House. “What the bill means is that it is impossible from now on to assure New Zealanders, consumers, the commercial sector, our agricultural sector, manufacturing sector, of continuity of supply.” If the Government wanted to cut petrol prices it should reduce the tax it charged on petrol to finance the Marsden Point Refinery loans, said Mr Bill Birch (Nat., Maramarua). Industry sources said super petrol ranged in retail price from 89.5 c a litre to 92c and regular from 87c to 89c. But Mr Birch told the House
the Government was charging 16c a litre of petrol bought at service stations but only using 9c to repay the refinery’s loans. "Why doesn’t the Government reduce the price of petrol by 7c a litre today if it is concerned about it?” Mr Birch said. The Government had the ability to do that, he said.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Caygill, interjected, “To increase the deficit, that’s what the member (Mr Birch) wants us to do.” Mr Birch retorted that the Government wanted to “tax the consumer, blame the refinery and reduce the deficit.”
But Mr Caygill said the National Government also “took from petrol for the Consolidated Fund — there’s no novelty in that.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19880504.2.3
Bibliographic details
Press, 4 May 1988, Page 1
Word Count
340‘Pistol pointed at Point’ Press, 4 May 1988, Page 1
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in