Environment Minister David Parker is right to slam Rio Tinto for linking its delayed clean-up of hazardous waste with its internal strategic review, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “In Opposition, Minister Parker often sided with the Taxpayers’ Union against corporate welfare and we’re delighted to see him maintain this stance in government.”

“Rio Tinto’s flamboyantly public review is clearly a tool to pressure this Government into granting the company another bailout, under threat of cuts to jobs. Now the company has stepped deeper into the gutter, suggesting its clean-up of hazardous waste depends on the results of its review, and by implication, a handout on from taxpayers.”

“Taxpayers and ratepayers have already committed too much money for the clean-up of Rio Tinto’s mess. It’s disgraceful, thuggish behaviour for this multinational to use an environmental hazard it created to hold taxpayers over a barrel.”

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