Plenty of gas into future, says NZ First deputy leader

Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall (left) and New Zealand First deputy leader Fletcher Tabuteau stroll the Whanganui wharves. PHOTO/ BEVAN CONLEY

His deputy leadership of the New Zealand First Party is not a succession plan, Fletcher Tabuteau says.

He was in Whanganui on April 17 to see the port and railway line, and meet people downtown. He's a list MP from Rotorua, and the deputy to long-time New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.

The party needs a younger deputy to show there's another generation coming on, he said. Mr Peters, 73, has not said whether he will be up for another three years in Parliament.

"I didn't take the deputy role to become the leader," Mr Tabuteau said.

He's also the party's Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development. He had just spent a day in Taranaki, which will get $20 million from Government's Provincial Growth Fund.

Whanganui's port and railway extension stands to get $6m.

Taranaki people were upset about Government's decision to end new oil and gas exploration, he said. They didn't realise existing permits for exploration and drilling would provide enough gas for decades.

"The big operators that still require gas for the long foreseeable future, they just need to go and get it. It's out there and the Government is very supportive."

Taranaki also wants to become a centre for alternative energy, and Mr Tabuteau heard "an amazing proposal that goes well beyond gas" while there.

The aim wasn't for the Taranaki economy to go beyond milk, either. It was to add value to milk proteins.

During his last term in Parliament Mr Tabuteau took an interest in the high prices Ruapehu residents pay for electricity, and the way it is priced by The Lines Company (TLC).

He said Government's electricity pricing review should eventually even things out.

"Since privatisation there have been inequities in pricing for consumers. We agreed to look at the industry from generation to consumption, and see what's happening."

He's waiting to see how pricing works out for Ruapehu customers, and said any changes would not be quick.

The review group is due to report back to Government early next year.