GUEST BLOG: Willie Jackson – Are we selling our water down the river
What is going on with our water?
There is no resource more precious and valuable to the people and its land than water, yet on almost every front our rivers and lakes are under attack. Farming continues to pollute our rivers for more milk powder and greedy overseas interests effectively steal our water free and make millions in profit from it.
What’s the response from the Environment Minister Nick Smith to all of this? Why he just rewrites the pollution standards so that water which could make you sick is now called ‘swimmable’.
Kiwis need to get angry about our water and they need to get angry now.
We know on a planet that’s becoming overcrowded and heating up that water will become a scarce resource, we are seeing this occur around the world right now, so who should benefit from our vital water supply is a critical issue we need to confront this election.
We need to make water an election issue because right now we are failing our water which damages the present and the future. It is not good enough that polluters can just flush their waste away into our water supply and there be no consequences.
It is not good enough that rich overseas companies can effectively steal hundreds of thousands of litres of water per day for a pittance in return and that be acceptable.
It is not good enough that we can just rewrite the definition of ‘swimmable’ and that be considered anything other than a blatant falsehood.
The Government says it’s too difficult to charge for water and that’s why nothing can be done.
I say nonsense. They also say no one owns the water but again I say nonsense. In fact Maori groups and Iwi who have made water claims against the Crown must think that anyone is allowed to own water apart from Maori! I would prefer to listen to the view of former High Court judge Justice Eddie Durie who says everyone owns the water and there is a public interest.
Here’s the solution, and it’s a really simple one, New Zealand water for Kiwis first. Simple.
We should not only be stopping any expansion of water taking, we should be stopping what is currently being taken now. This water is our nation’s birth right and allowing it to be abused and robbed like it is now is a slap in the face to our future children.
What future are we leaving for our kids if they can’t swim or drink from their own rivers and streams? What does that say about us as a people and about the leaders we follow if we allow such environmental vandalism to occur? New Zealanders need to become the priority here, not the wealthy vested interests of those who benefit from stealing and polluting our water. Its time now for Kiwis to protest over this enough is enough.
First published in the Manukau Courier
When NZers that own property whether it be in Auckland or elsewhere receive a water bill we are required by law to pay that water bill. We cannot take the cheap way out and say ‘Oh there is no way to prove the water is OURS….” If we don’t pay our water bill then the water is cut off. It’s all part and parcel of living in a city/town or community. We have to pay rates and water is one of those rates.
And so for this government to say ‘it’s too difficult to charge for water and that’s why nothing can be done’ is the cowards’ response to something they have no intention of dealing with. If ALL NZers responded with the typical government cop-out of ‘it”s too difficult to charge for water and nothing can be done…’ then why the Hell are we NZers expected to pay OUR water bills???!!!!
Most NZers pay taxes but apparently in NZ alot of multi-corporates do not. An excellent example of late is Apple. But if Apple is just one example of a multi-corporate that hasn’t paid taxes then what amount of tax(and this includes GST)has the overseas companies extracting WATER from various parts of NZ paid in taxes to say the NZ IRD???!!!!
Many NZers buy bottled water. We pay GST on that bottled water just as we pay GST on the water charges in the Water bills we receive.
We(NZers)MUST pay bills but it does seem the reality of life in NZ that some things like accountability and taking responsibility and actually having the guts/gumtpion to do something about what is happening here in NZ when it comes to say the export of water has gone into the ‘too hard basket’ for this government.
And so if this government just cannot face the responsibility of doing the right and proper thing and being pathetic when it comes to overseas companies taking NZ water for overseas usage then the National government are in for a much needed thrashing at the next election in September 2017
And yet a part of me gets the feeling the reluctance of this government to do something is because they have something to hide. Are the overseas companies in the National Party pocket and so hence them, this government, doing what is normal for them i.e sitting on their hands and doing nothing then proclaiming to all and sundry that something is just so difficult and lets blame a previous Labour government???!!!!!!
”Nobody owns water ” is the Government’s ‘catch cry’ for allowing the Chinese to ship it off to their country for nix and make 100’s of million’s of dollars a year .
They are exploiting the loophole left by this Government who has backed themselves into a corner by placating the dairy farmers ; some of the biggest donators to the National Party.
Bill English says it’s too ‘tricky’…..it’s not that tricky….
Once water hits terra firma or a river or a lake then that is New Zealand’s water . ie for all New Zealand citizens. It becomes part of our country. That water can only be used for the greater good of the people of this land. If foreigners want some of it then they must pay dearly for that privilege and the money goes back to the citizens for the betterment of all New Zealanders.
If the water is captured above ground on property owned by any given land owner, and kept above ground in storage, then the person doing the capturing of the water gets to keep it to do whatever they want with it.
Not that hard Bill !!
On Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, water is the most ‘basic’ of needs. For mine, it is for all ‘life’, upon any whenua. Without water, all life is lost. We cannot lose sight of the fact that all water resources, not only in Aotearoa but worldwide, need to be respected, protected and where required, redeemed. Ae Willie, I am angry about this resource abuse.
The biggest scam out. I will seriously vote for the party that stops this daylight robbery. And while they are at it, stop the plunder of swamp kauri and iron sands too. This government is a terror to NZ environment.
To me the logical step would be to nationalise the water, protect it as part of the “commons”.
But of course the current orthodoxy is that everything is up for grabs, may the strongest grabber win
Privatisation is seen as synonymous with democracy, any notion of “the commons”=despotism
Good potable water is fast becoming the new oil as a precious resource.
Its totally profligate to be squandering this wealth
Of course, any nation who dares to nationalise any resource for the public good immediately comes under pressure via regime change.