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Labour MP Clare Curran is threatening to pull out of the Mondelez working party and has accused the multinational of showing ''contempt'' for the community.
Ms Curran blames Mondelez for Jim O'Malley's decision to withdraw his bid to manufacture the classic Kiwi sweets such as Jaffas.
"I am very disappointed and quite angry that Jim O'Malley has felt he's had to pull out of the bid," she said this morning.
"[Mondelez] have treated Dunedin community leaders with contempt and disrespect.''
Ms Curran said Mondelez had been far too inflexible over timeframes, and "poured cold water'' on Dr O'Malley's venture by discouraging workers from investing in it.
Ms Curran said Mondelez had encouraged working party members to believe that an operator could buy the warehouse to manufacture the sweets.
Dr O'Malley - a Dunedin city councillor - pulled out of the working party in order to pursue such a venture.
Ms Curran said she now feared the working party was a "sop'' to make the community believe that Mondelez wanted to help.
In March, Mondelez told the Otago Daily Times the site's future was highly unlikely to involve manufacturing, and the Kiwi sweet maker was unlikely to be in Dunedin.
Ms Curran said the working party got a very different message.
She said the working party had a meeting tomorrow, during which she would decide whether to remain a member.
Mondelez has been contacted for comment.
The company is still assessing two bids for the classic Kiwi sweets. One is understood to be Rainbow Confectionery, in Oamaru. The other is North Island-based.
