Thursday, March 28, 2024

Judicial review filed on Healthy Rivers

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Pressure on the Healthy Rivers plan change in the Waikato to be put on hold is mounting following the filing of a judicial review by producer groups before courts closed for Christmas.
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A joint application for a judicial review was lodged at the Hamilton High Court. Signatories to the review application include Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ), Federated Farmers, Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association, Waikato and Waipa deer farmers, Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), and Primary Land Users Group.

 The application seeks to put the Healthy Rivers plan on hold until the current dispute Hauraki iwi have with it is resolved.

Hauraki iwi have challenged the plan’s validity, given it covers 120,000ha of land area which is subject to a Hauraki iwi Treaty claim.

This represents about 11% of the plan’s total Waikato regional catchment, and extends from Morrinsville in the east, across North Waikato to Tuakau, also encompassing part of Hunua ranges. It also includes the internationally recognised conservation area of the Whangamarino Wetland.

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) is in consultation with the Hauraki iwi and has suspended the submissions process on the affected part of the river, while the process continues for the remainder.

Corina Jordan, B+LNZ North Island environmental policy manager said it was untenable for the Healthy Rivers plan to continue through the submission process when part of its catchment was subject to a challenge from iwi.

“We are wanting the plan to go on hold until the iwi issue is sorted. The main issue is one of transparency. We do not think you can offer assurances the plan is the way forward when farmers in the upper catchment are wearing significant costs to protect those in the lower catchment.”

Conversely the lower Waikato catchment is the worst affected by the nutrients the plan intends to reduce, much of which flows from the upper catchment zone.

Jordan said she did not expect to see a decision until late January from the court.

Waikato Federated Farmers president Chris Lewis said the Federation remained committed to the plan in its whole form, but it was not workable when part of it had been left out of the submissions process.

“It is the process, not the plan itself that we have an issue with now.”

His emphasis on the process’s issues rather than the plan itself were echoed by HortNZ chief executive Mike Chapman.

WRC chief executive Vaughan Payne has told NZ Farmers Weekly he anticipates the remainder of the plan can be re-introduced later next year, once the issue with iwi is resolved.

However some commentators have questioned how quickly the whole plan could be re-started given the Hauraki iwi are currently in Treaty negotiation that commenced in 2009.

The settlement process was originally due to be settled last year but Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations minister Chris Finlayson has described the claims of Hauraki iwi as being “complex and overlapping.”

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