‘It makes me angry’

Veteran eel fisherman Mike Holmes stands to lose his livelihood if the degradation of New Zealand’s waterways continues.

But he says Kiwis stand to lose much more — the right to enjoy our cherished rivers and lakes.

For some waterways, including many around the Waikato region where Holmes is based, it’s already too late.

“The lower Waikato lakes, like Whangape and Waikare, we are not fishing there now because we’ve wrecked them,” he said.

“It just annoys me, it makes me angry.”

Holmes, who has watched the health of rivers decline over his three decades fishing in them, felt the only way to solve the problem was to halt inflows of nitrogen, phosphorus, effluent and sediments — or at least put firm limits on them.

The Government was doing some work, he said, “but they are not doing things that will make any difference in the positive”.

And he believed the issue of water pricing and ownership urgently needed addressing.

“The claim that no one owns the water is absurd: clearly, people who irrigate do, and people who sell bottled water do, so to say that people don’t flies in the faces of what we can see.”

Putting a price on water for commercial use had to come, Holmes said, and he didn’t see the challenge as too difficult.

He also wants parties to advocate against public funds being spent on clean-ups. Rather, water users and polluters should be fronting up for the cost.

“They are making a killing out of it and what does the public get? All the public gets is a bill to clean it up. So I’d like to see the situation fixed and it definitely needs to be a talking point at this election.”

Geoff Scott, assistant GM

and sent offshore should be paid the same as their NZ counterpart, plus cost of living and adjustments.”

About 560 of INZ’s 1250 immigration officers are based offshore, and do much the same work as those based here. The agency did not keep statistics on where offshore officers were originally recruited, but said the majority would be recruited from local offshore locations.

K3 Legal employment lawyer Joy Yan said that, without specific details, it was difficult to say if INZ was in breach of employment law.

“Whether New Zealand minimum employment entitlements, such as minimum wage apply to cross-border employment relationships turn on facts include, but not limited to, who is the employer, where the employee is based, what is the parties’ choice of governing jurisdiction and what is the employment’s connection with foreign law,” Yan said.

“Without knowing the specific facts, one is unable to say that New Zealand minimum entitlements are applicable.”

INZ Assistant general manager Geoff Scott said: “Immigration New Zealand totally refutes the allegation that it is skirting employment or minimum wage laws by recruiting staff locally and then getting them to work offshore.

“Offshore vacancies are advertised in the local market to ensure that INZ gets the best possible candidate.”

Scott said it was “standard practice” that offshore staff were paid the appropriate market rate where they were located.

“Salaries for offshore officers are based on local market rates and currencies, not the New Zealand dollar,” he said.