More Fish Less Drought

OPINION PIECE
January 24 January 2009

More Fish Less Drought
(Abridged speech, Conor English, CEO, Federated Farmers of New Zealand Water Infrastructure Forum, Christchurch)

About 600 years ago Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) said “Water is the driving force of all nature.”

As farmers we harness nature, we harvest it for our families and society, and we nurture it for future generations. We are the custodians of our land and water resource. When we talk about water storage lets not do that in isolation of nature, of the driving force of water and the importance of the environment. We must take our urban cousin and our environmentalist with us. We must take a smart balanced approach.

What we do know is that in the city you don’t wait for the rain to fall before you have a cup of tea. In the city we have water at the right place at the right time. We store water, we bank it, we save on the rainy day and so we can use it when it isn’t raining. So why not do more of the same in the country.

The story of NZ is not complex. We have fertile land, it rains, we grow grass, and we turn that into protein. We then sell this to a hungry and prosperous world to pay our bills and for our social services It’s a measure of a nation how it looks after its vulnerable, but we need export dollars to do this.

We have done this for over a hundred years. Sometimes we have forgotten that this is what we do best and we have had some conferences. But what we need is not a “Knowledge Wave conference”, but a water wave reality through more water storage.

When you look at the planet, we have the one thing that many don’t have – an abundance of fresh water. This is what makes us a first world nation, rather than a third world nation. We often say Australia is the lucky country – under the expanse of their sand they have “treasure” which they mine. In New Zealand we should look to the expanse of our sky. Water is our iron ore. It’s what makes us a lucky country.

Civilisations over the centuries have learnt that water is the key to prosperity, to the environment, to happiness. The Romans, the Greeks, Egyptians knew this. Like those civilisations we need more fish and less drought. We know from Opua and other schemes that the environment, recreational values, the community spirit, and the economy are all enhanced by water storage. And I’ve yet to meet a fish that doesn’t like water 365 days a year.

If we want to set our nation up for success for the next half century, if we want our children to aspire to a future within our shores, if we want to choose a brighter future, we need to look at smart water storage strategies.

Its not that Canterbury is running out of water, its that the water is running out of Canterbury.

So what do Federated Farmers want of government.

1. Put water storage on the list of infrastructure projects that the government supports to help the nation through our current financial crisis.

2. Reform legislative hurdles that make the gestation for such projects long, risky and expensive, such as the RMA.

3. Carefully review legal instruments, where appropriate, that prevent common sense solutions for water storage.

4. “bridging finance” - if we can back banks, why not water banks. Using appropriate models, government could help fund projects through the long capital intensive gestation. As with roading infrastructure, the benefits accrue to the whole community so we believe government financial involvement is appropriate. However unlike roading, water storage infrastructure provides direct positive cash flows from export dollar growth.. The Cullen fund with its new mandate to invest 40% of funds in New Zealand is one source of funds, but there may be other options that need explored, one of which I will mention next..

5. As an organisation, a lot of what we do is stop silly ideas or regulation getting over the line. For example the diesel tank regulations that we stopped that have saved at least $3000 for every farmer in New Zealand – about the equlivent of 10 years Federated Farmers sub, after tax. You may not have noticed as it hasn’t happened to you because we stopped it!

So we want to Government to review with a view to cancelling the Sate Highway 20 Waterview Connection tunnel. This 3.1 km “tunnel with no hill” is costed at about $1.9 billion or about $600 million per kilometre. Tunnels should be a last resort as they are not future proof and tend to end up a choke on traffic. So build the road but cancel the tunnel and use some of the savings for water storage projects. The return to the country will be far greater.

6. To include water storage as part of its practical and formal policy response to global warming.

7. To factor water storage into policy formulation on water allocation and other water frameworks and issues, such as potential Treaty issues as it can dramatically change the dynamic.

Lao Tzu said “ Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Well, give a kiwi a rain shower he fishes and farms for a day. Give him water storage he will fish and farm for a life time. David Carter, the new Minister of Agriculture, deserves high praise for convening this water storage forum.

Federated Farmers will continue our water storage campaign. We are a lucky country, we just maybe don’t realise it. Water is our Iron ore. As a whole community lets take action to set this nation up for more fish, less drought for the century ahead. Lets earn more export dollars to help pay for those vital services that every New Zealander expects as a first world country. The great Leonardo da Vinci would surely agree.

ENDS

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