Stop Waiting For Poisoned Workers To Die – Te Pati Māori
A new Human Rights Commission report into the legacy of pentachlorophenol (PCP) and dioxin exposure in Aotearoa timber industry has called for a national inquiry, compensation, specialist health support and remediation of contaminated sites.
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent action for sawmill workers, whānau and communities harmed by decades of exposure to PCP and dioxins, including communities in New Plymouth that continue to live with the legacy of industrial contamination.
“These workers went to work to provide for their whānau. They did not sign up to be poisoned,” Te Pāti Māori Co-leader Rawiri Waititi said.
“Now many are kaumātua, many are sick, and they are still being made to fight the Crown for recognition and justice.
“If ACC cannot deliver justice, fix ACC.”
The Human Rights Commission is calling for a national inquiry into PCP exposure, specialist health support, fair compensation, comprehensive testing of contaminated sites and a properly resourced remediation programme.
Te Pāti Māori Co-leader and Te Tai Hauāuru MP Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Taranaki knows what happens when communities are expected to carry toxic legacies for generations.
“For us in New Plymouth, this is not history sitting in a government file. Our whānau have lived beside contaminated whenua. They have worried about their health, their tamariki, their wai and what has been left behind for the next generation.
“We know the legacy of dioxin contamination. We know what it feels like when communities have to fight for decades just to be heard.
Our whānau should not have to get sick, grow old and die before the Crown decides their lives mattered.”
Waititi said the Crown could no longer hide behind complexity.
“The Crown cannot wait for this generation to die and hope the issue disappears with them.
“Our people are still suffering. Our whenua is still carrying the contamination.
Hold the inquiry. Compensate the workers. Care for the whānau. Clean up the whenua.
“They have waited long enough.”
Ngarewa-Packer said tangata whenua and affected communities must be at the centre of what happens next.
“Justice is not just compensation. It is restoring the well-being of our workers, their whānau, and restoring the health of our whenua.”
