Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. The previous speech was that voice
of jealousy and fear that comes when something happens that the National Government cannot
control, and that it knows is welcomed by the country. So I am glad that the previous
speaker felt he had to devote his speech to us, but actually we are here for other reasons,
and we have got things to talk about that are not based on jealousy and fear. What we
want to talk about is clean water. Imagine if a child was born 10 years ago, next to
a river, and in that child’s life, over the last 10 years, that child has never been
able to swim in that river. I am talking about the Waikirikiri-Selwyn River, where a child
has grown up in a beautiful area with an amazing coastal lake and an incredibly significant
river, to find that that child can never swim in it. Every summer there is a sign saying
that it is temporary, but you cannot swim in this river. Ten years of a child’s life,
and 8 years of a Government that has completely failed to fix the problem. That is the legacy
for that child at the Waikirikiri-Selwyn River. Imagine being a person in their 60s—a man
in his 60s at the Wairua River in Te Tai Tokerau who gets up every day, gets into his inflatable
boat and goes up and down the Wairua River taking photographs of the cows destroying
the banks, polluting the water, and the industry that has impact so heavily that he, as a volunteer,
has to devote his life to cleaning up that river. All his photographs get sent to the
regional council, and yet it is not listening. Neither the regional council nor the Government
is listening. Imagine if you were living next to a creek in the middle of the city that
was once full of kayaks and annual swimming events that the Minister for the Environment
says no one wants to swim in, and you belong to a community group that has been fighting
for that creek and you hear the Government say: “Oh, no one wants so swim in Lucas
Creek.” Imagine being a member of those groups that are still fighting because they
believe our children have a birth right to swim in those rivers. Imagine if you come
from the Waikato and you are a farmer in the lower Waikato planting, fencing, and desperately
trying to clean up water quality while the Government and the regional council refuses
to turn the tap off at the top of the catchment and dairy conversions across the volcanic
plateau are pouring diffused nitrogen into your river as you try to fix it. The tap has
to be turned off. The Government and the regional council do not have the political will to
do so. Imagine if you are the young people from my rohe, a young group called Te Mātauranga
Tira, which is a passionate group of young people who came to me and said “We want
one thing for our river”—this one is the Waihou. “And what is that?” I said to
them. They said “We want to be able to swim in it. We cannot swim in our river. Our whakapapa
tells us this is our river; we cannot swim it.” The Waihou goes into the Hauraki Gulf,
Tīkapa Moana, and is full of dairy effluent day after day after day. Imagine if every
time a person got up on their marae to do their pepeha, to talk about their mountain
and then their river, and their river was the “Black Drain”— Tarawera, the most
polluted river in the Bay of Plenty, where the pulp mills have had free run at putting
their contamination into the river. When they improved the colour, they added to the toxicity.
So although the river looks cleaner, it is just as toxic in recent years as it has been
for quite some time. Those of us who fought for the clean-up know what it means to those
people, whose whakapapa is still the “Black Drain”. Imagine if you came from Waitara
and you stood up against sewage and back flow up with Waitara River and you were sued by
your regional council. I am talking about Rob and Fiona and Pikikore, who are being
sued individually for standing up for clean water. That is the legacy of the last 8 years.
A person can be sued for standing up for clean water in Taranaki. The Manawatū, the Ruamāhanga,
the Mataura, and more—we have so many rivers that need to be swimmable, that can be swimmable,
and that the Green Party will fight for, alongside community groups. We believe in fresh water.
It is not a choice; it is a necessity. We believe in swimmable rivers. The Minister
believes there are too many birds and too much volcanic ash. That is a joke. That is
just completely out of touch. We can have swimmable rivers and, with us and our leadership,
we will.