Ngāi Tahu freshwater case could reshape farming and rural communities

The South Island iwi’s case was recently argued out in an eight-week hearing in the High Court at Christchurch, with Justice Melanie Harland reserving her decision.

In an update to members following the hearing, Hurst said that access to water was critical for all farming businesses “and the last thing we need is more cost and uncertainty added to the mix”.

That was why Federated Farmers joined the action as an interested party, giving evidence in support of the Crown in opposition to the Ngāi Tahu claim.

“Farmers should be watching this case closely. It could well be that Ngāi Tahu want to be able to charge royalties for the use of water.

“You can imagine what this would mean for farming, particularly for those of us in places like Canterbury and Otago where so many farmers depend on irrigation,” he said.

Hurst told Rural News that the definition of rangatiratanga “we think was purposely left vague” but it would essentially redesign freshwater management for the South Island.

Hurst said no one disputed people’s rights to freshwater for drinking water, community needs or stock water but the big issue was irrigation, with about 400,000ha of irrigation within Canterbury and all the infrastructure investment which that entailed.

A big concern for farmers is that the Ngāi Tahu claim would create “significant uncertainty,” such as banks becoming wary of lending for irrigation infrastructure if water allocations were in doubt.

The Feds also acknowledged that there were water quality issues, but improvements were being made, with significant reductions in groundwater nitrates within Canterbury already.

“The Hinds catchment is at 36% reduction.

“So, there’s all those things going on. We’ve got to give it a chance to work. And from what I’ve seen farmers are on board with it,” said Hurst.

“The last thing we want to see is to chuck the whole thing out and start afresh.”

Hurst said the issue would impact all New Zealanders. If the Ngāi Tahu claim succeeds, other iwi would seek similar controls.

“Across the country billions of dollars have been invested food production, irrigation and family farms – some of them going back six generations.

“Access to freshwater has underpinned the viability of those farming businesses and they deserve certainty, now and into the future.”

Asked to respond to Hurst’s comments, Ngāi Tahu referred Rural News to an earlier statement from Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere (chairman) Justin Tipa.

He said there was a “sadly familiar pattern” of deteriorating quality of freshwater but the Crown had consistently failed to work in a meaningful way with Ngāi Tahu on a policy and legal framework.

“We are asking the court to declare that the Crown has a duty to engage with us to co-design a better system for managing freshwater.”