February 2025
Those who thought "Three Waters" was done and dusted, think again.
The Māori iwi Ngāi Tahu are seeking to co-manage all of New Zealand’s South Island fresh water within its tribal region. Notwithstanding that in terms of Ngāi Tahu's 1998 deed of full and final Treaty of Waitangi settlement which precluding them from seeking new remedies from the Government, they now appear in the Christchurch High Court with an application shrouded in legal subterfuge. The first named plaintiff is Professor Te Maire Tau of Kaiapoi based Ngāi Tūāhuriri, a University of Canterbury historian. The second plaintiff is Tā Tipene O’Regan.
The plaintiff’s legal team is led by Chris Finlayson KC who was previously the New Zealand Attorney-General and the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations from 2008 until 2017 in a National Party led government.
The legal team for the New Zealand Attorney General have indicated they will argue that the application is legally flawed. In all there are 15 lawyers involved in these High Court proceedings.
In 2004, the then Labour Government led by Helen Clarke gave effect to the Foreshore and Seabed Act, which declared that title in any land in question was deemed to be held by the Crown. The passing of the 2004 Act effectively put paid to the prospect of any further legal proceedings Ngāi Tahu and others may have lodged against the government.
Helen Clarke had the courage to introduce the 2004 bill as a matter of urgency at the time. Sadly there is little prospect that the incumbent coalition government will have the balls or the presence of mind to do likewise.
When will it be made clear that the New Zealand Government runs the country, not the Judiciary or any Tribunal.
It should be worrying that in the event of an adverse outcome from the applicant’s present High Court proceedings, they are likely to continue with all available legal appeal avenues, all at an ultimate astronomical cost to New Zealand taxpayers.
Regardless of the present High Court proceedings, it should be recognised as a matter of utmost urgency that New Zealand’s fresh water systems have become seriously degraded and polluted and when the hell will the government do something meaningful about it.