Troubled Waters in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Blessed with an extraordinary abundance of freshwater, New Zealand faces complex governance challenges of simultaneously protecting public health, powering the country, bolstering its economy, and honoring obligations to its Indigenous population—all which are water-dependent. In this article, we discuss New Zealand’s water quality challenges, water governance structure, and analyzed the framing of its water issues and polices by the country’s two main parties and two key interest groups before and after a major contamination crisis in Havelock North, which caused widespread illness. While the 2016 Havelock North drinking water contamination crisis was illustrative of New Zealand’s laissez-faire approach toward freshwater quality and its impact on environmental and human health, we found different frames by the two major political parties about this fundamental resource. Examining this event as a catalyst, we consider its effect on framing and policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Water
• quality
• New Zealand
• framing
• dairy

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Rebecca Paley-Williams for her research contributions to this article and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Havelock North is in the East of the North Island

2 The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement over sovereignty signed between the Crown and Māori tribes. The English and Māori versions of the Treaty diverge substantially and there is no consensus on the terms of the Treaty. Current policies, therefore, emphasize the vaguer and more flexible notion of “Treaty principles” that establish a partnership relationship between the Crown and Māori. These Treaty principles generally recognize a special Māori interest and right in sovereignty over natural resources.

3 The Waitangi Tribunal is a commission of enquiry and was established in 1975 to remedy the Crown’s breaches of the Treaty. To this day it is still reaching decisions and giving advise related to Māori access to natural resources and financial compensations for the Crown’s non-respect of the Treaty.

4 In New Zealand, junior parties can support a main party by offering “confidence” (support in parliament) and “supply” (for the budget) and can, in exchange, gain ministerial portfolios outside of Cabinet.