The quest to free Southland residents from a toxic liability

It’s been a battle beset by fear, floods and corporate negligence. But will big business finally take responsibility for the toxic waste dumped around Southland? The Paper Mill is part of Frame, a series of short, standalone documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff. Made with support from NZ On Air. Watch more here. It … Read more

Deep dross in the deep south: Is Rio Tinto holding New Zealand to ransom?

Minerals giant Rio Tinto has once again provoked the fury of the government over their operations down in Southland. So what’s going on, and why are people so angry? What’s all this then?  This story is all about dross. Not the dross that gets put out by global corporations as PR when they find themselves … Read more

Not-so-modest proposals for Tiwai

A truly ambitious solution would keep jobs in Southland, delivering on the promise of the Zero Carbon Act to make NZ all but carbon neutral by 2050, writes Nicola Gaston in a post co-authored with Sally Brooker, Justin Hodgkiss and David Williams of The MacDiarmid Institute. Tiwai Point is in the news, again. Jeanette Fitzsimons, … Read more

A modest proposal for the future of the smelter at Tiwai Point

Closing it down entirely isn’t the answer, but neither is letting it run as before. Jeanette Fitzsimons has a compromise plan. An asset or a liability? Actually, Tiwai is both, but the liability could be turned into an asset with some creative thinking. A structural change in New Zealand’s relationship with the aluminium industry could … Read more