Peter Williams: Why are we waiting?

The Ngai Tahu water case is clogged in a judge's chambers

There are no official records for New Zealand’s longest delay between a court hearing and the judgement.

High Court guidelines say judges expect 90 percent of reserved decisions to be delivered within three months of the last day of the hearing. The Chief High Court Judge regards a reserved judgement as being “outstanding beyond a reasonable time” once six months have elapsed.

So where does that leave Justice Melanie Harland and her decision on the Ngai Tahu Freshwater Statement of Claim hearing which finished on April 4th last year?

Bob Edlin: How Ngai Tahu will be flush with governance powers under water reforms – but not in all parts of the South Island

Journalists hastened to work out what’s up for grabs in various bits of the country after the PM announced a $2.5 billion package for New Zealand’s 67 councils, if they opted in to the government’s water reforms.

This (we were reminded) follows $761m being given to councils for water infrastructure upgrades in July last year.

The media didn’t devote too much energy to examining how and/or why the boundary lines will be fixed when the responsibility for drinking water, wastewater, and storm water infrastructure is shifted from councils to four regional entities or the governance implications of having Three Waters boundaries aligned with tribal boundaries.