Māori groups representing landowners, hapu and iwi filed proceedings in the High Court on the 26 June, against the Crown, citing its repeated failure to uphold the tikanga-based and Tiriti guaranteed rights, interests and responsibilities of Māori in relation to freshwater.

This legal challenge comes after over a decade of broken promises and Crown inaction, despite clear obligations under Articles 1 and 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, repeated Tribunal findings affirming Māori proprietary rights and repeated court findings affirming kaitiaki rights. Successive governments have refused to establish a fair and durable water allocation system that enables Māori to exercise their rangatiratanga rights and their role as kaitiaki, even as both water quality deteriorates and water quantity diminishes across the country.

Despite a 2012 Crown assurance — led by then Deputy Prime Minister Bill English — that the Crown was committed to recognising and making appropriate provision for Māori rights and interests in water and geothermal resources , and the Supreme Court’s endorsement of the Tribunal’s ruling that the Crown must urgently address long-standing Māori proprietary rights in water, little has changed. The Crown continues to allocate water on a “first-in, first-served” basis, ignoring the deep spiritual, cultural, and practical responsibilities of Māori as kaitiaki, and depriving Māori landowners and communities of the water rights they need to thrive.

The group is calling for:

• Immediate action to halt further decline in the health and wellbeing of water bodies 

• Recognition of Māori tikanga and proprietary rights in water and geothermal resources 

• A fair and durable water allocation system that enables Māori to fulfil their responsibilities as kaitiaki

“Under the Crown’s watch, our waterways have become degraded, over-allocated and increasingly vulnerable. This is about restoring balance. It’s about acknowledging that Māori have never relinquished our relationship with water. We are doing what we’ve always done: standing up for the health of our water, our whenua, and generations to come,” says Kingi Smiler on behalf of the claimant group.

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