Far North Holding's proposed asset sales
PRESS RELEASE

21 April 2008

The newly appointed Chairman of Far North Holdings has been quoted in the 17 April edition of the Kerikeri Chronicle as saying that the intention is to now sell about a third of their assets, including some of the District's wharves and jetties.

Bob Drey, Chairperson of the Russell Protection Society, is concerned that many of these assets were built and paid for by the local community and were supposed to be held in trust by the Council. He said that this harks back to the bad old days of Rogernomics, when local communities were systematically stripped of their strategic assets. Mr Drey said that it was no longer acceptable to sell off the family silverware when the local community depended on wharves and jetties in the Far North for their livelihood as part of the tourism, transport, marine farming and fishing industries.

He said that Russell wharf is an integral part of our historic community and locals were united in their view that this should not be privatised. He said that it was disconcerting that the local community had recently fought a battle with Far North Holdings over their proposals to turn the wharf into a private marina, only to find that the war has been lost because it could now be up for sale to the highest bidder.

Mr Drey invited the Chairman and the other newly appointed Trustees to come to Russell and to learn first hand what local communities think about their plans to sell off publicly owned wharves and jetties.

ENDS

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