Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:638;Page:8256] 
1. TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: He aha nga kupu tohutohukuawhiwhi e ia mai ingaropuMaoriwhiriwhiri kaupapa me Te PuniKokiri e paana ki te mana tuku iho o te Maorimo te wai? 
[ 
What advice has he received from Maori reference groups and Te PuniKokiri regarding Maori customary rights to water? 
] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Associate Minister for the Environment) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister for the Environment 
: Mo te Minita o te Taiao kareanoiwhiwhiingawhakaaro a Te PuniKokirimotenei kaupapa. Mena ka whakaarohiataua mema ki nga mahi a tetehikomitiMaorina te hiahia o ngakaiwhakahaere a-iwi iwhakatu kia whakamaramainga mahi a te Sustainable Water Programme of Action. Kuawhiwhi o ratouwhakaaroitetehi hui i te 31 o Hanuere. Kei ngaMinitainaianei maratou hei whakaarohia e ngawhakautu.  
The Minister for the Environment has not yet received specific advice from Te PuniKokiri officials on this matter. The member will be referring perhaps to proposals by a Maori technical advisory group set up by iwi to facilitate engagement with Maori 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 
: 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 Maori reference groups and Te PuniKokiri is that Maori customary rights to water still exist or are at the very least contestable in court? 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA 
: 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 Chauvel 
: What discussions with Maori have taken place on the Sustainable Water Programme of Action? 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA 
: In addition to the latest proposals I can advise that extensive consultation has already taken place with Maori. Key issues raised by Maori 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 Maori knowledge in management processes better capacity for Maori 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 Maori and are being considered by this Government. 
Tariana Turia 
: Tena 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 
: 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 
Turei 
: If 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 Maori 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 Maori at all? 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA 
: 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 
: Is the Minister aware that Wakatu and NgatiRarua - Atiawa 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 
: I am sure the Minister is considering the views of Wakatu at this moment.