New Zealand’s largest electricity producer, Meridian Energy, has resumed talks with Rio Tinto Alcan, the majority owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, over Rio’s request for changes to 18-year contracts for power supply that kick in on Jan. 1. Meridian chief executive Mark Binns told the company’s annual public meeting in Wellington that Rio had recently come back to …

The Teamsters Union’s Mike Nolan has lashed out at Fonterra saying the NZ dairy giant’s “virtual monopoly” must be diminished if the TPP is to go ahead. Nolan – who touched base with the US Dairy Council in Washington DC before coming down to Auckland for the 15th round of TPP negotiations – claimed that there would be $US20 billion …

Don Christie – founder of Catalyst IT and a leading New Zealand expert on open source software – said he was disappointed with the proposed effects for the technology industry under TPP at today’s stakeholder meeting in Auckland. “TPP is a big missed opportunity” said Christie citing an independent report out of the UK (available for download below) which called …