Editorial: Government is swimming against the current

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

THE weather is supposed to warm up a bit for the weekend, so me and the kids thought we might head on down to the river for a bit of wading.

There's nothing like it - going into the Whanganui for a good wade. There are those whose ancestors first settled on the banks of the river who can trace back to the earliest days of wading.

But the kids, being an unconventional lot, have suggested they might also like to try swimming in the river. The trouble is while our awa is wonderfully "wadeable", it isn't always "swimmable".

How can this be? I thought there was something in the Bill of Rights that says all Kiwis get freedom of expression, the vote, food and shelter ... and to go swimming in their nearest river. Isn't it every New Zealander's birthright?

Instead of firing off an angry letter to the Human Rights Commissioner, the Green Party this week launched a campaign to make all our rivers swimmable. Typically outrageous of the Greens.

The Government reckons that "wadeable" is okay, but I doubt that many other people do. "We want to swim" is the cry.

Yes, cleaning up the waterways will be a long and expensive process, but let's start with the belief that it can be done. Let's make "swimmable" the target and start doggy-paddling towards it.

If the Government can proclaim its ambition to make New Zealand smokefree by 2025, then it can aim to make the rivers relatively bacteria-free by some similar date.