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Comment: Federated Farmers Dairy Manawatu/Rangitikei, Murray Holdaway asks where should we draw the line on what we're entitled to? And who gets to decide?
Environment Minister David Parker recently expressed his belief that New Zealanders have the birthright to swim in local waterways.
I am not in full agreement that it is a right, it is more of a privilege to me, but the article got me thinking.
If swimming in a local waterway is a right, then what other rights do we have, how do we as a community rank the importance of each, and who ultimately decides?
Is free speech a right and is it more important than swimming in a waterway? What about free education, or access to affordable and readily available healthcare?
What about the availability of basic services such as quality drinking water and sewage treatment systems and transport, and again are these more important than swimming in waterways?
Have we got rights to employment and fair pay, and have we got rights to travel and holiday with family and friends?
Are these rights or privileges available to all, or do cultural and social backgrounds dictate that some rights are available to some but not all?
Do rights change over time as other aspects of life change, or do they persist?
In the not too distant past, New Zealanders would have expected to be able to own their own home, but not many are able to today.
Connectivity is a must-have today, but is it a right?
I am sure there are many opinions as to the importance of each of these "rights" but who makes the final decisions?
Well ultimately, we all do by our involvement in the discussions and in the various democratic processors that we have available to us. Of course, that is our right.
We find ourselves as a community in the current situation because of decisions made in the past that may not have been as well balanced as they could have been.
As a dairy farmer, I accept those past decisions involving the expansion of the industry and on-farm practices, have had a focus on economic outcomes and did not consider the environmental consequences.
I am proud of the fact that in our business we have changed our approach and invested significant time and capital to get a better balance in decisions.
The whole industry has moved in that direction, even if not fast enough for some.
I am in full support of Minister Parker's aim to improve water quality, but in searching for solutions for this complex issue, I believe there needs to be acknowledgment that dairy has had significant economic and social benefits for all New Zealanders by way of the level and standard of services we all receive and the choices we are all able to make.
We need to try and learn from our past bad decisions.
To ensure current decisions produce successful outcomes there needs to be comprehensive research and analysis on the effects, environmental, economic and social, and there needs to be involvement and engagement by as many in the community as possible.
There needs to be an acceptance that compromises will have to be made, that we can not have our cake and eat it too.
Leadership is needed, to help make this complex issue become more transparent and understandable, and to get the community to accept the need for change and to have consensus on the direction of that change.