The right to clean, safe water

This Bill is encapsulated in one, simple sentence.

The right to clean, safe water is a fundamental human right.

Standards are required and need to be enforced as there are numerous sources of threats to clean drinking water.

And so, we in the Maori Party, have been happy to put forward our support for the Bill as a party that stands up for the fundamental human rights of people.

One would have thought this would be an aspiration that all parties in this House would stand up for.

But of course it is now part of the international record of shame, that the current Government will on the 13th September, that is tomorrow in Geneva, put forward their opposition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

A Declaration which addresses both individual and collective rights, cultural rights and identity, rights to education, health, employment, language and others.

A Declaration which outlaws discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them.

A Declaration which ensures their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic, social and cultural development.

But no, not a Declaration that this Government is prepared to support.

For Maori, water rights have a particular value. Every iwi and hapu has a river or a lake. And so every iwi and hapu has been concerned about the global commercial interests that are being pushed through governments, with multinational companies looking to buy water rights.

Ko te tikanga kia noho tonu ma te iwi ā rohe te whakahaere mo ōna ake mana moana.

Each tribal area should be responsible for its own territorial waters.

And so we look at this strategy underpinning the Health Amendment Bill to see how tangata whenua are engaged and involved in the improvements in risk management in respect of drinking water.

We are interested that the bulk of the 47 submissions received were from local authorities and water suppliers – whom of course have a vested interest in the quality of drinking water.

What we know, is that there are a host of threats to safe, clean drinking water in Aotearoa – for example, agricultural run-off, horticultural sprays, pest eradication spray programmes, industry (both intentional and unintentional), storm-water mixing with drinking water due to infrastructure problems and/or flooding, lead water pipes, possums and birds contaminating roof water.

Some or all of these issues are pretty much a constant feature of daily life as reported in the nation’s media.

Any differences in water supply quality tend to be due to where Maori choose to live. In other words, in some of our rural areas, where there are high Maori populations, there are also some of the highest rates of E. Coli and reported drinking waterborne diseases.

There are some big issues that need further analysis around the purity of the water supply to our marae. We have tended to overlook the damage of run-off from the roof; the quality of the water from the springs – and the question is: how careful are we?

Hapu and iwi as kaitiaki of water, would suggest that the management of water should be jointly managed with local authorities.

We notice that the Select committee gave emphasis to their “extensive consultation” with Local Government New Zealand - and we in the Maori Party can only wonder, whether there was extensive consultation with whanau, hapu and iwi to discuss the new drinking water standards.

And although the Health Select Committee conclude that water supply has historically been the responsibility of local government we can only ask, too, what priority the select committee has accorded to those who preserve and embrace the spiritual and cultural guardianship of Te Ao Marama.

Our whakapapa responsibilities of kaitiakitanga require us to exercise responsibility in a way which measures the wealth and wellbeing of resources, such as water.

And I want to talk about this association between wealth and water.

Any analysis of the economic, environmental and social condition of Maori must include the sustainability and quality of the water supplies within our communities.

Wealth is as much about living well as whanau, hapu and iwi as it is about the ecological capacity of our planet.

And that is where the welfare of Maori is absolutely connected to the public health risk management plans that this Bill creates as a duty and an obligation on suppliers.

We do, however, agree with the concerns put forward in the minority viewpoint of the National party, regarding the impact of compliance costs from this Bill, on local government and water rates.

It has greatly concerned us, as a party, that an intractable political and corporate culture is approaching the economics of environmental protection as another indicator of GDP.

We would be extremely concerned to see the good governance responsibilities involved in managing public health risks translated into further downstream costs for rate-payers.

We are, of course, alarmed at the pollution of the ecosystem, and the devastation of disease vectors that have increased the reservoir of potentially waterborne human pathogens carried by animals.

In other words, the harmful impact of contaminated drinking water, whether done intentionally or recklessly.

And so on that one count alone, of course we will continue to support this Bill so that Maori can anticipate a future of living in good health and in reasonable prosperity.

But we are also mindful that the low income communities, in particular, may be more vulnerable to water contamination if they are already lacking sufficient nourishment to fight off the harm.

Mr Speaker, once again it comes back to rights. The right for New Zealanders to benefit from living in a clean, safe and healthy environment.

The right for New Zealanders to prosper from the protection, restoration and enhancement of mauri (lifeforce) within our natural environments.

Finally, Mr Speaker, despite the shameful performance this current Government has demonstrated in the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, I am aware that on March 22, World Water Day, a number of agencies, internationally, called for a United Nations Convention on the Right to Water.

We in the Maori Party – respecting water as a taonga – are interested in learning the position of the current Government towards such an international convention.

We absolutely endorse the provision of safe, affordable water for drinking and sanitation as a basic human right. We do not believe that the privatisation and trading of water rights sits alongside indigenous rights, or human rights.

Our commitment towards supporting this Bill at this, its second reading, is to do so, in the interests of protecting and preserving a stable and secure environment for future generations.

Such a goal reflects our party’s belief in genuine progress, true wealth and kaitiakitanga.

Thank you Mr Speaker.