10 May 2011

BBC questions NZ’s “100% Pure” brand

New Zealand’s economically valuable “100% Pure” brand has been questioned in international media due to the pollution of our rivers and lakes, the Green Party said today.

“We must get real about cleaning up our rivers and lakes, because the world is beginning to realise that we aren’t living up to our clean green image,” said Dr Norman.

Dr Norman was responding to John Key’s interview yesterday on BBC News HARDtalk. During the interview, host Stephen Sackur commented that New Zealand is clearly not 100% Pure and cited that half of New Zealand lakes and 90% of our lowland rivers are classed as polluted.

“The clean green New Zealand brand is worth $18.4 billion, but this asset is at risk unless we take immediate action to restore our waterways.

“To be effective in the long-term, our brand must reflect reality,” said Dr Norman.

“Yesterday, John Key admitted on BBC News that intensifying our dairying has impacted on our river quality, the same day his Government released a toothless version of the National Policy Statement on Freshwater (NPS).

“The draft NPS required land owners to obtain a resource consent for land use intensification, but the Government bowed to polluter pressure and removed this requirement in the final version released yesterday.

“Nearly every report on water quality in New Zealand has identified land use intensification as the main cause of water quality decline in New Zealand, yet the Government has chosen not to regulate intensification.

“This decision will come back to haunt us. If we trash the environment we will trash our reputation and it will damage us economically sooner or later,” said Dr Norman.

ENDS

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