Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
11 MAY 2016

Apologies Needed And Heads Need to Roll Following Havelock North Report

Politicians and media who showed serious ignorance during Havelock North’s water contamination need to apologise and do the right thing, says New Zealand First.

"Some politicians and groups are so jaundiced that they continue to blame farmers despite the first stage of the Havelock North Inquiry showing it was incompetent water management by the Hastings District Council,” says New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“Some in the media need to take a long and hard look in the mirror. They reported anyone willing to have a crack at farming, especially dairying, despite the closest dairy farm being 40 kilometres from Havelock North.

“This is sadly a story of human incompetence, not farming, because as the Inquiry Report notes from an eerily similar 1998 contamination: “The District Council, as the water supplier, did not take the 1998 outbreak seriously enough and implement enduring, systemic changes. Memory of the earlier outbreak simply faded”.

“Heads must roll for 18-years of dangerous inaction that has cost lives,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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