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New Plymouth MP Glen Bennett got a seat beside Prime Minister Chris Hipkins for a tour of Port Taranaki.
New Plymouth MP Glen Bennett finally got to sit beside his boss on the bus.
After lobbying hard for Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to visit his New Plymouth electorate, Bennett got his wish on Thursday when the Labour Party leader flew in for the day.
His busy schedule saw him share breakfast with business leaders, sausage rolls with Port Taranaki staff and stop in at his mum’s old alma mater Waitara High with deputy PM Carmen Sepuloni.
At Port Taranaki, Bennett was closely behind Hipkins as he addressed a national media scrum while he soaked up the attention the country’s leader brings.
Thursday’s visit was not in the same category as opposition leader Christopher Luxon’s arrival in June, when National’s boss twice packed out a side room at the Plymouth International, mainly because Hipkins had not taken the opportunity to meet, greet and speak to an open audience.
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Hipkins was clearly appreciative those organising the catering at Port Taranaki did not forget his penchant for sausage rolls.
Instead, his one-day tour of the New Plymouth electorate was aligned to the itinerary Bennett had planned.
The port was chosen because Bennett felt it was at the heart of Just Transition, the Government’s plan to move to a low emission’s economy.
“It’s also a look into the future of Taranaki,” Bennett explained.
“I was part of the Taranaki Roadmap 2050, and now we have to implement that and part of that is having a high functioning port that focusses on future renewable energy.
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Hipkins listens to Port Taranaki chief executive Simon Craddock during the tour.
“If and when offshore wind kicks in, we need this port to be ready to bring in the ships, the turbines and infrastructure to build these projects.”
Hipkins no doubt got a clearer understanding of what was needed to develop the port in the future as he met staff behind closed doors before returning to front media on the issues of the day.
One of the first promises Hipkins made in front of camera was to be back in the region before the country voted on October 14.
“We are focussed on supporting the Taranaki region to transition, but it’s not just energy, Taranaki is important to our economy and our society for a number of other reasons, as well,” he said.
“It’s a big primary producing region, there is a lot of industry here, and I think it’s an important part of the country.”
As quickly as he was brought onto the topic of Taranaki he was taken away from it and onto questions about law and order, expensive leaving parties at the Ministry of Pacific Peoples and, inevitably, taxes.
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The role Port Taranaki will play in the region’s move to renewable energy was a focus for Hipkins.
However, he did take a question on the future of the old Ivan Watkins Dow site at Paritutu which he straight batted with a response involving process which he was not “going to insert” himself into.
Bouncing briefly back to matters closer to Taranaki interests, Hipkins made it clear the transition to renewable energy was not going to happen hastily and the future of the region’s 7000 oil and gas workers was safe, for now.
“The current energy sector in New Plymouth is not going to disappear overnight,” he said.
“It’s going to transition over a period of time, and we have to make sure as that transition happens we support people through it.”
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