New rules around freshwater are being labelled a missed opportunity by the iwi chairs forum.
A swan lands on the Waikato River. Photo: 123RF
The government said it would be guided by mātauranga Māori in its implementation, but Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group chair Rukumoana Schaafhausen said the rules did not go far enough.
Rukumoana Schaafhausen Photo: RNZ / Eden Fusituá
"It does embody te mana o te wai as the basis of the national policy statement around fresh water management. It recognises the importance of sustaining the health and wellbeing of water and it also includes mahinga kai as a compulsory value, and we must acknowledge those are gains," she said.
"But in my view - and I know across iwi katoa - it doesn't go far enough. It delays yet again the issue of iwi and hapū interests in wai, so in my view it's another missed opportunity to fulfil the Crown's treaty obligations to iwi and hapū."
She said successive governments continued to fail in that obligation.
"We've got to get to a point where we stop kicking the can down the road because it's hard to resolve and successive governments have done that.
"Without fully understanding the implications of this document we will be holding the government to account for its actions and obligations as the treaty partner."
She said iwi could no longer take a back seat on the issue.
"Again, we must acknowledge the gains and I acknowledge the Minister [David Parker] and everyone who has fought to have that as a guiding principle but we now must put the words in the action and iwi can no longer be sidelined in this conversation.
"It's a bit like the local government taking from the Waikato river, again, this is about being central to the decision making about what is in the best interest of us all and that is a role for iwi to claim."
Trust also has reservations
The Te Arawa Lakes Trust agreed that the new package did not address the recognition of hapū and iwi rights and interests in freshwater.
Trust chairman Sir Toby Curtis said this recognition continued to be left for another day.
Te Arawa Lakes Trust expects to be directly engaged in the next phase of work to address fair allocation and hapū and iwi rights and interests in freshwater.
But he said overall, the trust was pleased with the strengthening of Te Mana o Te Wai as a fundamental concept in relation to water management.
Sir Toby Curtis Photo: Supplied
Te Mana o Te Wai requires the health of waterbodies to be addressed first, then the health and essential needs of people and finally the needs of other users.
Implementing Te Mana o Te Wai will require local authorities and tangata whenua to work together to ensure greater protection of Māori values, including setting a long-term vision for water which is informed by the aspirations of tangata whenua and communities.
Sir Toby said through its Te Tuapapa values framework the trust had already done extensive work to identify what determines healthy waterways for Te Arawa. This work was recently recognised in the New Zealand Planning Institute Awards.
"We've also looked at ways to measure the health of our lakes from a cultural perspective, with our hapū and iwi providing the matauranga contained in Te Tuapapa to measure the state of our water; this includes considering cultural factors, such as swimming, water used for ceremonial purposes and the ability to collect kai from them."
He was also pleased to see mahinga kai recognised as a compulsory value.
"We are pleased to see mahinga kai elevated and emphasised as a compulsory measure of freshwater health, taking its place alongside other compulsory values such as ecosystem health and human health for recreation. This will assist the trust to preserve the habitat of our taonga species in Te Arawa Lakes."
Sir Toby said while many of the trust's submission points have been reflected in the package, it is disappointed not to see a more balanced membership on freshwater panels, with provision of just one of five seats to be nominated by tangata whenua.
Te Arawa Lakes Trust is responsible for the sustainable management of 14 lakes within the wider Rotorua region, including Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti.
The lakebeds were returned to Te Arawa under the 2006 Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act, with the trust established in 2007 to manage its assets.