October 21, 2022
Three Waters opposition masked racism
A northern iwi leader says much of the opposition to the Three Waters reform is driven by racism – whatever it critics choose to call it in public.
Haami Piripi from Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa says the concept of Te Mana o te Wai which underpins the new Essential Freshwater regulations seems to be widely accepted by the public.
But while many pakeha are happy to take Maori natural world knowledge, they don’t want to give anything back.
“What it was was picking up a Maori notion, applying it to a national system of water management and making it useful as a mechanism, so people are happy to embrace the mana but they don’t want to embrace the people. So I think what the anti-Three Waters stance is about is anti-co-governance,” Mr Piripi says.
Co-governance is the essence of treaty partnership – but conservative pakeha see it as a threat to their power.