Frank Newman: Echoes of Orewa

Twelve years ago Don Brash, as the then leader of the National Party, delivered a landmark speech to Orewa Rotary:  He dared to confront the issue of separatism. While the response from some was predictably shrill, the message resonated with enough voters to rebuild National's support from what had been a crushing election defeat under Bill English.

This week it was Winston Peters at the podium in Orewa and Don Brash in the pews, but the message was the same - that racial privilege was dividing the country.

Mr Peters referred specifically to the changes being made to the Resource Management Act (reviewed in my 9 December column). He said, "Under the new bill, every council in New Zealand will be required by law, to invite the local iwi to discuss, agree and record ways in which tangata whenua through iwi authorities, can participate in the formulation of policy plans, including water management plans".

Previously the Environment Minister, Nick Smith, conceded, "The Bill is a compromise with the Maori Party and they have strongly advocated for better processes for iwi to be involved in council plan making. Councils will need to engage with local iwi on how they will involve them in their resource management processes. The objective is to ensure iwi are consulted on issues that are important to them..."

It is the reality of MMP that a party which gains just 1.3% of the vote can dictate the terms to the majority, but it seems National's concessions to the Maori Party have gone further than giving iwi greater say in local council rule making and consenting.  As Mr Peters alludes, iwi are also likely to be granted racial privileges regarding fresh water.

It is no coincidence that the RMA deal done with the Maori Party refers to water because National will soon announce a major reform of the way fresh water is managed. National MPs are already attempting to minimise the intensity of the impending debate by repeating the Party mantra that no one owns water. They conveniently ignore the reality that granting a use right that confers all of the benefits of ownership is ownership in all but name.

There are likely to be two key elements to the fresh water debate. The first is why iwi should have any special right to fresh water at all.  According to the Iwi Chairs Forum, water is important to Maori because, "Our wai (water) is an inseparable part of our whakapapa and our identity, and is a fundamental part of what drives our very existence."

National appears to have accepted Maori have a special rights regarding fresh water. Others  say spirituality and moon gazing should not be driving economics in a modern economy.

The second element of the debate is how water should be allocated and if Maori are to have special privileges, how they would be addressed. One option being considered is a tradeable quota system. Essentially this would give those holding a quota the right to draw a specified volume of water over a defined period (like 20 years or longer). Those rights have a value and would be tradeable on the open market which, according to market purists, would result in the water resource being fully allocated and put to its best economic use.

Another option is an administrative-based approach where decisions about who gets fresh water and how much, are made by local councils (with 50% or majority iwi representation on the decision making committees).

The issue is of particular importance to the farming and horticulture sectors, large industrial users, and  local councils.  All users will want to protect their existing use rights, be assured future rights will be allocated fairly on need rather than racial preferences, and they will want assurances about cost, given the supply of water is in effect a monopoly.

A discussion document on options for the reform of water management and allocation will be released by the government shortly and the public will be invited to make submissions. It's an issue that will get a lot of media attention, creating many more political opportunities for Winston Peters and others.