Meka
WHAITIRI

Water Spokesperson

3 July 2014 MEDIA STATEMENT
National continues to ignore dirty water concerns

The Government’s national freshwater standards announced today are an election gimmick that will do nothing to clean up New Zealand’s waterways, Labour’s Water spokesperson Meka Whaitiri says.

“This Government’s record on environmental and conservation issues is dismal. Today’s announcement is just window dressing

“The Government’s strategy will fail because it has set incomplete and weak minimum water standards.

“Kiwis are sick of seeing their rivers contaminated and spoiled by National lax approach to resource management.

“National continues to ignore calls for New Zealand’s poor water quality to be seriously addressed.

“Labour understands that clean, swimmable water is a priority for New Zealanders.

“A Labour Government will clean up our dirty rivers over a generation. We will control the increasing intensity of land use. We will also demand improvements to farm practices to offset the additional environmental burden caused by more livestock, fertiliser and effluent.

“Under Labour, New Zealand will have clean rivers,” Meka Whaitiri says.

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