What are National & ACT doing in the shadows?

[Lilith7]

This could potentially be  harmful - better to do any discussion on this very openly surely, so you really have to wonder just what they might have in store.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/...010101_1_1


"National and Act’s policies on drinking water would reduce protections and ignore the recommendations of the inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak.


But, overlooked, public health concerns such as drinking water can become dramatic in the worst of ways, as the campylobacter outbreak in Havelock North in 2016 demonstrated. And for this reason, public health policies must be brought into the light for debate.

The new announcements are the most significant update to parties’ policy positions across the issues we surveyed. The policies would reduce existing protections for drinking water and go against the recommendations of the inquiry into the Havelock North outbreak.

The theme of National’s agricultural proposals is to scale back existing regulations brought in to provide protection for waterways

The inquiry into the outbreak stressed that “protection of the source of drinking water provides the first, and most significant, barrier against drinking water contamination and illness”.

Te Mana o te Wai is a policy framework requiring councils to prioritise the health of the environment and provision of drinking water in their decision making, ahead of commercial uses.

This framework acknowledges two important points for drinking water. First, waterways that have been too degraded cannot provide good quality source water. Second, because drinking water is a fundamental need for all communities, its provision must be prioritised over commercial uses. 

It prioritises public interests in the management of water over private interests. It does provide for commercial uses, acknowledging that land use will have some impact on the environment.

But under the framework, this impact cannot be at the expense of drinking water or push waterways beyond a certain level of environmental health (as defined by the bottom lines described in the policy).



 

Act announced on Sunday that it would remove the framework, with party leader David Seymour stating, "we do not believe that Te Mana o te Wai improves the environment”.

Though the document does not say National would remove the framework, the theme of National’s agricultural proposals is to scale back existing regulations brought in to provide protection for waterways.


On drinking water specifically, National plans to “amend the proposed National Environmental Standard for drinking water to avoid excessive compliance requirements for small providers of 30 connections or fewer”.

This is troubling. Strengthening the National Environmental Standard was a recommendation of the Havelock North inquiry. When highlighting a number of ways in which the standards should be strengthened, its report noted, “expert panel and submitters were adamant that the size of a drinking water supply should not determine the level of first barrier protection. The inquiry firmly accepts this view. All consumers should have the benefits and protections of the [National Environmental Standards] Regulations”.

We need to have open, informed debate on what those campaigning to be in government say they will do to protect people’s drinking water – in the light, not the shadows."