Sharples urges debate on water ownership

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples has called for the issues of water ownership and water management to be debated at the local and national level.

The Maori Party co-leader made the call yesterday in a speech to an iwi forum in Wellington on freshwater management.

Dr Sharples also pointed to a Chilean Supreme Court decision last month in favour of indigenous water rights against a company seeking to bottle freshwater from a source used by Aymara Indians.

"Local hapu and iwi need to be full participants in decisions on water management in their areas," he said, "and water ownership issues need to be allowed to come on to the local and national agenda.

"We must be there at the table to ensure our rights and interests in water management and any other mechanisms to deal with our natural resources are articulated, and more importantly are heard.

"We want to see a far more open relationship from regional councils and local authorities, to actively working with iwi in water management."

Dr Sharples said at the heart of the Chilean case was the centrality of community water rights and the value of water as a vital resource fundamental to every aspect of life.

"Just as with Maori, the rivers and streams are the lifeblood of the people, the essence of life."

Like other indigenous people, Maori felt an obligation to those who had gone before and those who followed, "to take due care of the rights, interests and responsibilities we share collectively in water".

The Government is seeking the view of iwi as part of a major review of freshwater management.

Prime Minister John Key and other ministers have engaged on the issue with the Iwi Leaders Forum - a group from Tuwharetoa, Tainui, Te Arawa, Whanganui and Ngai Tahu.

The forum held eight regional hui in July and August this year.

Dr Sharples said after his speech that by water "ownership" he was not talking about title but about "the coming together of two different world views, reconciling with each other, two different political systems - the Maori one, the parliamentary one - coming together to work out kaitiakitanga [guardianship], management, whatever.

"I don't see ownership as a one-concept thing at all."

Dr Sharples hinted in his speech that some officials were having difficulty with the discussions between iwi and the Crown.

He said it was important to stick to the path when Maori set up an arrangement with the Government.