1. TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) Link to this
to the Minister for the Environment
He aha ngā kupu tohutohukuawhiwhi e ia mai ingārōpūMāoriwhiriwhiri kaupapa me Te PuniKōkiri, e pāana ki te mana tuku iho o te Māorimō te wai?
[What advice has he received from Māori reference groups and Te PuniKōkiri regarding Māori customary rights to water?]
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Associate Minister for the Environment) Link to this
Mō te Minita o te Taiao, kāreanōiwhiwhiingāwhakaaro a Te PuniKōkirimōtēnei kaupapa. Mēnā ka whakaarohiataua mema ki ngā mahi a tētehikomitiMāorinā te hiahia o ngākaiwhakahaere ā-iwi iwhakatū kia whakamāramaingā mahi a te Sustainable Water Programme of Action. Kuawhiwhi ō rātouwhakaaroitētehi hui i te 31 o Hānuere. Kei ngāMinitaināianei, mārātou hei whakaarohia e ngāwhakautu.
The Minister for the Environment has not yet received specific advice from Te PuniKōkiri officials on this matter. The member will be referring, perhaps, to proposals by a Māori technical advisory group set up by iwi to facilitate engagement with Māori under the Sustainable Water Programme of Action. These proposals were passed to officials at a meeting of chief executives on 31 January earlier this year. They have been passed on to Ministers, who will be considering them in due course, at which time a Government response will be provided.
Te Ururoa Flavell Link to this
Kia ora, Madam Speaker. If the Sustainable Water Programme of Action is about sustainability only, why is the Government promoting it with the slogan: “Four million careful owners”, thereby misinforming the public that water is owned by the Crown on their behalf, when the very clear advice from the Māori reference groups and Te PuniKōkiri is that Māori customary rights to water still exist or are, at the very least, contestable in court?
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA Link to this
The Government has been very clear on its position and approach to water—that is, that water is a public resource. A lot of views are currently being considered. The best way for that to be done, proactively, is through the Sustainable Water Programme of Action.
Charles ChauvelHon NANAIA MAHUTA Link to this
In addition to the latest proposals, I can advise that extensive consultation has already taken place with Māori. Key issues raised by Māori include the need to act to improve poor water quality, and the need for more robust environment bottom-lines in water allocation processes, more public awareness of the importance of freshwater resources, better incorporation and understanding of Māori knowledge in management processes, better capacity for Māori and local government to work together on decision making for water resources, and no privatisation of water resources. Those issues are currently being raised by Māori and are being considered by this Government.
Tariana TuriaTēnā koutou. What is the Minister’s response to the statement that the deliberate Government campaign to blur the issue of water ownership is to create the illusion of Crown ownership of water for the public good so that the Government can be free to sell off water rights to overseas conglomerates as it is doing with chunks of foreshore and seabed, prime coastal properties, and farmland?
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA Link to this
I can state categorically that the Government’s position is that water is a public resource that the Government and local authorities will continue to manage on behalf of all New Zealanders. Importantly, water is precious to us all and I can advise the member that this Government has no intention of privatising water.
Metiria TureiIf the Government is so committed to the concept of water being a public resource managed by the Crown on behalf of everyone, what then is the point of an extensive consultation to get advice from Māori about what it might mean for them, both under their Treaty obligations and under tikanga, and is it simply that these apparently extensive consultations are a sham, when in fact at the end of the day all of that advice will be disregarded by the Government as it makes its decisions based on its already committed view that water is a public resource and is not in the hands of Māori at all?
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA Link to this
That is certainly not the starting position of the Government. It is acknowledged that water is a public resource that is precious to us all, and because it is precious to us all we have to find ways to reconcile how that resource can be utilised for the benefit of everybody.
Te Ururoa Flavell Link to this
Is the Minister aware that Wakatu and NgātiRārua - Ātiawa Iwi Trust had jointly applied for rights to take water from the Motueka Plains aquifer, and does he support claims made by Wakatu chief executive Keith Palmer that landowners should have the first right to the precious resource of Motueka groundwater; if not, why not?
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA Link to this
I am sure the Minister is considering the views of Wakatu at this moment.