Mainfreight founder Bruce Plested battling Waiheke Island marina development
5 Apr, 2021 05:00 PM
8 minutes to read
Project director Tony Mair discusses the Kennedy Point Marina. Video / Kennedy Point Marina
Plans to develop Waiheke Island s first marina are opposed by Māori as well as rich-lister Bruce Plested, chairman and founder of Mainfreight with a $6.8 billion market capitalisation. It s a disgrace, a kind of madness, quite extreme. It s grotesque if you see what they re trying to do, Plested said of Tony Mair s 186-berth marina proposal for Putiki Bay, Kennedy Point.
Ngāti Pāoa iwi members have also been camping at the site where Mair s business began development in early March. Those iwi members are also vowing to stop the scheme, citing the kaupapa of the moana.
Forrest retired in December 2019, after 42 years of working for the same company. “If we provide a reliable supply there are no complaints – we’re typically only seen in times of storms when things go wrong, but a lot goes on behind the scenes to achieve success,” Forrest explained. In the early 1990s, after the government announced significant reforms to the electricity industry, Forrest led a group of industry entities in seeking community-owned assets. The group successfully received recognition of an ownership structure in the form of a trust that directly benefited local consumers. Forrest said it had been an “absolute pleasure” to serve the electricity consumers, and it was particularly satisfying during times of reforms to work towards trust ownership, where “the benefits go back to the consumers”.