August 16, 2021
Three Waters threat to Maori input
A former local government minister is warning the Three Waters Reform will make it harder for Māori to protect their interests in water.
Sandra Lee says when she rewrote the Local Government Act at the turn of the century she included strong wording to ensure water infrastructure would not be caught up in the mania for privatisation.
That will be undermined by the proposal to put water under the control of four regional entities.
She says water has been the front line for Māori since the start of colonisation, whether it is preventing wastewater from polluting food gathering areas or ensuring supplies of clean drinking water for their communities – and even now Māori are leading the charge against water bottling plants and privatisation.
“We have been a voice in the wilderness. This new system will only shut our people further out. We want people controlling our water supply and our Three Waters as they are calling that it we can vote out if they do they try and do the wrong thing. These new entities are not that. Give National a bad day in paradise and they will flog it off sooner than they would sell their grandmother,” Ms Lee says.
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