Nick Smith23 September,
2010
Kia ora hui hui tatou
katoa.
I wish to acknowledge the sad passing of
Sir Archie Taiaroa yesterday, a man who
championed on behalf of his people, a love
for the great waterways of New Zealand,
particularly the Whanganui.
Can I acknowledge my
colleague, the Minister of Agriculture David
Carter, Te Ururoa Flavell - representing
the Minister for Maori Affairs - Members
of Parliament, the Chair of the Land and
Water Forum Alistair Bisley, Land and Water
Forum members, and distinguished guests.
It is an extraordinary
achievement we mark today of 58 very different
stakeholder groups coming together on an
agreed way forward on freshwater management
in New Zealand.
It matters to our economy.
It matters to our environment. It matters
because of what it says about our capacity
as a nation to move forward on difficult
issues.
Let me first acknowledge
the origins of this report and give it some
broader context.
Freshwater is New Zealand's
most important natural resource. It is what
gives our $11 billion a year dairy industry
its competitive advantage. It is pivotal
to our clean, green brand and our $8 billion
a year tourism industry. Add in the contribution
to our meat, horticulture, cropping, freshwater
aquaculture and wine industries and we are
looking at over $30 billion per annum. Water
is to New Zealand what minerals are to Australia.
Managed wisely, our freshwater resource,
unlike minerals, is available in perpetuity.
But our freshwater is
much more than an economic resource. It
is what makes our great kiwi lifestyle -
the fishing, swimming, kayaking and rafting.
We all have our favourite lake or river.
Maori have long identified with their rivers
and lakes and this is increasingly becoming
the case for all New Zealanders.
The realisation though,
that we are not doing as well as we should
in managing this resource, has been growing
for two decades. Water quality, still amongst
the best internationally, is deteriorating.
The Government is having to pick up the
bill for major clean-up initiatives for
Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti, Lake Taupo
and the Waikato River totalling over $400
million.
The truth is that while
we've actually made pretty impressive progress
in cleaning up point-source discharges under
the RMA, the framework is not working for
the pollution that arises from more intensive
agriculture.
This has caused increased
acrimony between recreationalists, conservationists,
farmers and iwi. The RMA almost provides
an incentive for division and polarisation,
and the current framework has proved unable
to provide a durable solution.
This Government, then
in Opposition, was heavily influenced in
our thinking by the work of Guy Salmon,
funded by the Foundation of Research, Science
and Technology, in studying solutions from
the Nordic countries where high level national
collaborative processes have been successful
in resolving intractable environmental problems.
We proposed this approach in our 2006 Bluegreen
Vision document and included it in our 2008
election policy.
I must confess to some
nervousness in experimenting with this new
approach on such a difficult and challenging
issue as water management, and my preference
was to first have a crack at a less challenging
environmental issue, with the potential
to move onto water. This process was sector-initiated.
The parties themselves decided they had
had enough of division, polarising and no
progress, and came to Government with the
proposition of the Land and Water Forum
which we embraced.
I must pay tribute to
Alistair Bisley - for your leadership, patience,
dedication and experience, and for bringing
this process to a successful conclusion.
The report of the Forum
provides a robust framework for moving this
pressing issue forward. The 53 recommendations
pose major challenges that we will need
to carefully consider.
The next step will involve
three strands. We have agreed to fund the
Forum to open up a public engagement on
their report. Water is a public resource
and any changes in the way it is managed
needs widespread public support.
Secondly, this Government
recognises the huge importance Maori place
on New Zealand's freshwater resources. We
have agreed to a dialogue through the Iwi
Leaders Group on the Forum's proposals and
on the broader issues for iwi over freshwater.
We are also asking our
officials to report and advise on the recommendations
in the report.
There is a huge amount
to digest from the Forum's year-long work
and deliberations. We understand the importance,
we are committed to timely progress, but
we also believe the way forward is in building
a broader consensus on water reform.
We are hugely encouraged
by what has been achieved by the Land and
Water Forum in this report. It represents
a major breakthrough in the same way as
the Forest Accord on the divisive issue
over native forests in the 1980s.
A lot of work lies ahead.
Our ambition is to build on the goodwill
and translate this report into the sort
of policies that will enable New Zealand
to maximise the economic opportunities from
our freshwater resource, while ensuring
the protection of this resource for future
generations of New Zealanders.
