The coalition government is facing another High Court challenge over broken promises to Māori, this time over freshwater rights.
A united rōpū of whenua Māori owners is demanding the Crown honour assurances made by former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Bill English in 2012 that Māori have rights and interests in freshwater and geothermal resources.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told media on Monday that no one owns water, and that many stakeholders, not just Māori, have interests in it.
“We’ve had a long-standing view that certainly no one in this country owns water. There’s rights and interests that many folk have across the country, but no one owns the water. It’s a difficult issue. It’s a complex issue. As we go through our RMA reforms, we’ll have more to say about that in due course,” says Luxon.
The High Court action was instigated by Kingi Smiler from Wairarapa Moana and the Wai Manawa Whenua Coalition.
The claim is supported by the Federation of Māori Authorities (FOMA), the largest Māori agri-business collective.
