Water—Quality

Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this

I have had several reports. One was from the Hon Nick Smith last month, stating that 24 percent of our drinking water is unsafe, that that is “an appalling statistic”, and that “enforcement action is needed”. I received two other reports a few months earlier. Those stated that New Zealand is known for having the best standard of drinking water in the world, that it has excellent standards of drinking water, and that this is a problem that does not need fixing. Those statements were made by Dr Coleman and Dr Blue. So the National Party is both deeply concerned about the quality of New Zealand’s drinking water and deeply unconcerned. If that is the nature of its concern, then it is no wonder that it has not managed to formulate any health policy. National cannot even work out what it wants to do about New Zealand’s drinking water.