Lawrence Yule: Heretaunga Plains under siege

Lawrence Yule

Two recent proposals will have significant implications on water and importantly jobs in our region.

As the National Party candidate for Tukituki and somebody who has strived for years to promote jobs for our people I am astounded at this recent attack on our growers and our economy.

The first is the proposed Labour Party tax on commercial water use and the second is the proposed Conservation Order on the Ngaruroro River.

The Labour Party announcement to charge commercial users is an unnecessary, random tax on the Hawke's Bay economy.

Most people accept a greater control of water bottling for export. However, nobody expected our food producers to be faced with a random new tax.

In 2015 MP Stuart Nash proposed a 10 cent per litre charge on bottling but his own party has yet to announce any detail other than to say all commercial users will pay. That is except Coca Cola which will get its water from a municipal source!!

The National Party strongly opposes a general water tax on orchardists, growers and farmers when these same food producers are not causing the pollution in the first place. It is not thought out and is unfair on our growers.

Secondly, the Water Conservation Order on the Ngaruroro River as proposed will have a deadly impact on our productive base and importantly jobs.

I am a supporter of many of the things Fish and Game and Forest & Bird stand for, but in this case, they have got it completely wrong. The lower reaches of the Ngaruroro have been modified over many decades by stop banks, gravel extraction, artificial recharge of the aquifer and river diversion. In my view, they do not get close to coming under a Conservation Order.

The river allocation requested under the Conservation Order only allows extraction of approximately 25 per cent of the water currently used. More importantly, the aquifers on the plains are also included which will have fundamental impacts on families in urban areas.

The order would also prevent the damming of tributaries for summer augmentation. With ongoing climate change, we need to keep our options open including for the things these groups are most worried about, "wildlife and fish".

We have a collaborative process called TANK under way being led by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council. This is a local democratic process involving all parties and should be allowed to continue.

New science shows all aquifer water in the Heretaunga Plains is connected to our rivers. I'm a strong believer in local people making local decisions and TANK is the way we should manage our water system - not through a water Conservation Order.

I'm a strong environmentalist but I also value the jobs provided by the horticulture and agriculture sector. Jobs at Heinz and McCain's are seriously at risk with what is proposed.

Never in my time in public office have I seen such a threat to Hastings and jobs. I am proud to stand for a party that is strengthening the Hawke's Bay economy and taking strong practical steps to improve water quality.

We can't stand back and allow our local orchardists, pack houses, exporters, hard-working families - who will be hit by higher food prices - and the wider economy to suffer from a Labour Party water tax and a debilitating Water Conservation Order, which must be stopped in its tracks.

Lawrence Yule is National Party Candidate for Tukituki. Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz.