PM, iwi talk water quality

Ma¯ ori freshwater rights are still on the table but neither the prime minister nor iwi leaders say it’s a priority.

A government delegation led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arrived at Waitangi yesterday for her first official meeting with the Iwi Chairs Forum (ICF) ahead of Waitangi commemorations next week.

Freshwater rights have been a bone of contention at the ICF for the last decade but Ardern said following her meeting that the emphasis was on water quality, not rights and interests over it.

She said who owned water didn’t come up but, given how long the issue has been around, she expected it would continue to feature.

‘‘There is a particular emphasis from this Government on improving water quality in New Zealand and that’s long been the position of Ma¯ ori, and that was the focus in the meeting today.’’

She said ministers were looking at a levy on companies who export bottled water but she wouldn’t predict when that might happen.

‘‘Our position continues to be the same. Everybody has a stake in water, but we acknowledge particularly Ma¯ ori do.’’

She denied the Government had put the issue in the ‘‘too-hard basket’’ – it was a case of being too early to say what the result of any policy might mean for Ma¯ ori.

ICF chairman Maahia Nathan said the leaders ran out of time to address many of the issues but in terms of freshwater rights he did not think it was a ‘‘priority at the moment’’.

‘‘Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for us to have a debate around some of the issues. We didn’t quite get through our presentations we’d organised for today. Obviously, time was against us but I’m not too sure you could describe some of the issues as sticky. I think there’s a willingness to work together on some of these issues and ensure they do line up,’’ he said.

He described Ardern’s visit as ‘‘warm’’.