"It's been a slow winding back of that transparency and each Government is worse than the one before." He added the Government had been very good at not giving in to Rio Tinto. The company had received hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect Government subsidies over the years, including a $30 million bailout under former Prime Minister Sir John Key. Despite receiving that money, Rio Tinto announced plans to shut up shop last year at its Tiwai Peninsula facility, New Zealand's only aluminium smelter, because of high energy costs - but later reached a four-year agreement with Meridian Energy to keep it open until at least the end of 2024.