Water, Real Democracy and Deep Sea Oil to Feature in MANA Campaign

The possibilities of user-pays for water, a super city for Wellington and pollution of the sea and coastline if drilling for oil goes ahead are the main concerns of MANA candidate for the Greater Wellington Regional Council, Ariana Paretutanganui-Tamati.

She believes that if a proposal in a report from the Local Government infrastructure Efficiency Task Force, which is chaired by Regional Council Chair Fran Wilde, to introduce user-pays and compulsory water meters for domestic water users is implemented many people on low incomes will struggle even harder to make ends meet. She also fears that the proposal will lead to the commercialisation of water.

Ms Paretutanganui-Tamati says that MANA supports participatory democracy, a system where people can take part at neighbourhood level in making decisions about matters that affect them. She believes that the proposal for a two-tiered system of government for Wellington that came from the Independent Review Panel that was appointed by the Regional Council is very similar to the Auckland super-city, and this will mean less representation of the people and will lead to the commercialisation of many services.

She is also very concerned that if central government allows deep-sea drilling for oil south of Wellington the sea could be polluted and the Regional Council as the body responsible for inshore waters and the coast will be left with the expense of cleaning up. Ultimately the burden will be put upon rate payers. “The recent earthquakes should be a huge wake-up call to all Wellington residents. The risks of drilling for oil at unproven depths in an area that risks seismic activity is too great.” says Ms Paretutanganui-Tamati. She will be pushing for Wellington Regional Council to place a Moratorium on Fracking and formally oppose Deep Sea Oil Drilling.

Ms Paretutanganui-Tamati has a background in social and community work. She has been active in organising protests against the sale of State assets, the GCSB Bill and drilling for deep-sea oil.

Her campaign will open at the Bucket Foundation in Cuba Mall at 2pm Saturday. She will be giving away free water from our Wellington Springs.

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