NZ First Candidate Billy Brown pushes false Marsden Point closure claim

Official records show Refining NZ’s shareholders and board approved the Marsden Point Oil Refinery shutdown, while Labour chose not to intervene.

New Zealand First’s Rotorua candidate Billy Brown has falsely claimed the former Labour Government approved the shutdown of Marsden Point and celebrated it as progress towards net zero.

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Image: The documented ownership record points in another direction. Marsden Point was operated by the publicly listed Refining NZ, which became Channel Infrastructure when the site moved to import-terminal operations in April 2022. A Treasury OIA response later confirmed the refinery was not owned or operated by the Government and that the Crown held no shares in it at or around the time of its closure. (File. / Supplied / Facebook / Billy Brown)

In an authorised campaign post to a Facebook group, Brown declared: “Labour approved shutting it down and called it progress towards net zero.”

The official record tells a rather different story.

Marsden Point was operated by the publicly listed New Zealand Refining Company, later renamed Channel Infrastructure. A Treasury OIA response confirms that the refinery was not owned or operated by the Government and that the Crown did not hold shares around the time of its closure.

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The company proposed ending refinery operations and converting the site into an import terminal following a strategic review driven by falling refining margins, international competition and customer support for an import model. The proposal required approval from Refining NZ’s shareholders, not the Labour Government.

Shareholders approved the conversion in August 2021 (pg. 36). Refining NZ’s board then made the final investment decision in November 2021, confirming the company would end refining and become an import-only fuel terminal from April 2022.

Image: Decommissioned oil refinery at Marsden Point, New Zealand. View from One Tree Point. The refinery operated from 1964 to 2022. (synthetick / Adobe Stock)

Labour did not order the refinery to close and did not hold the vote that authorised its closure.

Cabinet considered whether taxpayers should support continued refinery operations for another five or 10 years. The Government ultimately decided there was not a strong enough fuel-security case to subsidise the refinery and instead directed officials to investigate stronger minimum fuel-stock requirements. That decision can be criticised as a failure to intervene though it cannot accurately be described as Labour approving or directing the closure.

The distinction was outlined in Parliament on March 31, 2026, when Speaker Gerry Brownlee corrected Resources Minister Shane Jones after Jones claimed the refinery had closed with Labour’s approval. Brownlee said Cabinet consideration did not amount to approval and described Labour’s position as choosing not to support the refinery remaining open.

Brown’s net-zero claim also distorts the documents.

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The Cabinet paper said future uses of the Marsden Point site could help New Zealand’s transition towards net-zero emissions, including possible production of sustainable aviation fuel. It did not describe the refinery shutdown itself as “progress towards net zero”.

Claims about emissions reductions were also publicly advanced by Refining NZ itself. The company told investors that converting to an import terminal would significantly reduce its direct carbon emissions and allow the business to participate in New Zealand’s decarbonising energy market.

Brown, who is listed by New Zealand First as its Rotorua candidate, is entitled to argue Labour should have spent public money or taken other steps to keep refining operations alive. The political argument does not change who made the decision for closure.

Brown’s claim shifts a private commercial decision onto the former Government and turns a reference to possible future low-emissions industries into an alleged celebration of the closure. That is not what the official record shows.

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