"It has more to do with Labour's desperation to save the Rotorua seat."
Dr Smith said Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick's majority had plummeted from 7744 to just 662 - a remark that Mrs Chadwick said was "a cheap shot".
Mrs Chadwick, who is now Conservation Minister, said she had campaigned for many years for Government money to restore the lakes and she and other Rotorua leaders, including Mayor Kevin Winters, welcomed the announcement.
Mr Winters, who is also chairman of the Rotorua Lakes Strategy Group, said it showed the Prime Minister was "a person of her word".
He said the $144.2 million clean-up of the four worst polluted lakes was now achievable without the burden on local ratepayers being too heavy.
But Environment Bay of Plenty chairman John Cronin said any less than a 50 per cent contribution from the Government would have placed an "untenable burden" on locals.
"The Government's come to the party and we're extremely grateful," he said.
The Maori Party said the clean-up was important, but the bigger issue for Te Arawa was the ownership of the water in the lakes.
The Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act 2006 vested ownership of the lakebeds in the tribe, but not the water or airspace above them.
Te Arawa is formulating a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal for those ownership rights, and Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell said the clean-up of the water should go on regardless.
"It's appropriate that the Government and other agencies look at cleaning it up before they hand it back."
Te Arawa Lakes Trust chairman Toby Curtis said ownership of the water and airspace was a separate issue and could be achieved without disruption to the clean-up and restoration plan.
He said the Government's funding decision was an acknowledgement of detailed submissions made on the clean-up plan, and of community co-operation from both the commercial and private sectors to restore the lakes.
"It's an acknowledgment of the mind and heart that's been at work in this whole area."
Te Arawa elder and chairman of the former Te Arawa Maori Trust Board Anaru Rangiheuea said the decision was a long time coming but the money would go a long way.
"I think the [Prime] Minister has been affected by a lot of information coming through that our lakes needed immediate attention."
John Green of the Lakes Water Quality Society said the Government contribution was "hugely significant", with 135 tonnes of nutrients pouring into Lake Rotoiti each year.
The funding gave the councils the ability to plan for long-term projects in the knowledge they had half the contribution.
But he said farming practices around the lake still needed to change.
"Intensive farming and clean, fresh water don't go together. They're incompatible in nutrient-sensitive zones."
However, the councils said the 23 farms in the lakes' catchment were working hard to prevent nutrients getting into the lakes.
They were taking measures including riparian planting, installing proper effluent systems and using nitrogen-inhibiting fertilisers.
Mr Cronin said Environment Bay of Plenty was looking into land-use controls, but would never force dairy farmers off their land, and Federated Farmers Rotorua/Taupo president Gifford McFadden said farmers were open to land-use change, such as subdividing into lifestyle blocks, as long as they emerged with their capital and were not paid subsidies.
Helen Clark told reporters that farmers around the lakes would have to farm sustainably if they wanted to trade profitably in the future.
"Sustainability is critical to the Kiwi farmers' ability to export profitably into high-value markets in the future.
"Those are the issues that First World consumers are raising and they will make ethical choices about whether what they're eating, what they're buying is sustainably produced."
THE CLEAN-UP
* $72.1 million over 10 years.
* Said to cover half the $144.2m cost of cleaning up the area's four most seriously degraded lakes - Rotorua, Rotoiti, Okareka and Rotoehu.
* Rotorua District Council and Environment Bay of Plenty will fund the other 50 per cent of the clean-up with ratepayers' money.
KEY COMPONENTS
* Construction/extension of sewerage systems for communities around Lakes Rotorua, Rotoiti and Okareka.
* Treatment/diversion of nutrient-rich streams flowing into Lakes Rotorua and Rotoehu.
* Capping lake sediments to prevent nutrients rising from the beds of Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti.
* Construction of wetlands and changes to land use/farming practices to reduce nutrient flow into the lakes.
* Harvesting and disposal of weeds from Lake Rotoehu.
* The contribution follows $18m already invested by the Government to clean up the Rotorua lakes.
* The water quality of the area's 12 lakes has degraded over many years as a result of nutrient runoff from sewage, farming and other sources. The high nutrient content leads to toxic algal blooms which are unsightly, smelly and make the water unsafe for humans and animals.
* The clean-up and restoration programme is being undertaken by the Rotorua Lakes Strategy Group, which comprises representatives of the Te Arawa Lakes Trust and the local and regional councils.
