Last month I wrote to you about the Government’s failure to repeal David Parker’s mad ‘te Mana o te Wai’ (literally meaning the mana of the water) requirements.

A few days ago, the research team at the Taxpayers’ Union were sent the details on how the rules are playing it out in my local area: Otago.

While we knew it would be expensive, even I didn’t think it would be this bad. 

The cost to comply for local ratepayers is tens of thousands per household.

Our friends at Federated Farmers were leaked confidential documents out of Otago Regional Council (and, given the mutual interest in this issue, have kindly shared them with the Taxpayers’ Union team). Here’s their summary:

Councils were required to give effect to the principle of Te Mana o Te Wai under the previous Government’s freshwater policies.

While the new Government has announced it will review the direction requiring this, their review is not yet complete.

It’s staggering that, despite the review, Otago Regional Council (ORC) is charging on and aiming to give legal effect to Te Mana o Te Wai this year.

We understand the council has reached a view that protecting the mana of water means no treated urban wastewater will be able to be discharged to waterways.

If this rule is implemented, it will no doubt mean billions of dollars of additional cost for Otago ratepayers, including farmers.

Current infrastructure, even though it treats water to an incredibly high standard, would need to be mothballed and replaced.

We also understand that, under the council’s definition of Te Mana o Te Wai, water from one river can’t mix with water from another.

If such a rule is implemented, it would cause major issues for irrigation schemes where water is stored and irrigated in an area where it may eventually enter a different catchment.

Again, none of this is to do with the scientific view of freshwater quality; it’s simply aiming to give effect to Te Mana o Te Wai.

According to the documents obtained by Federated Farmers, in at least two small towns in Central Otago, the cost of giving effect to Te Mana o te Wai will be more than $50,000 per residential ratepayer!

Quite rightly, Federated Farmers are calling on the Council to come clean.And remember, this has nothing to do with health and well-being, and frankly it has very little to do with the environment. This isn’t being pushed through because it will help people, but because it will boost the mana of the water.

Frankly, the ‘spiritual health’ of the water should not come ahead of people’s ability to afford the groceries or human health – but that’s what the Te Mana o te Wai regulations says must happen! 

Your local council is next

Otago is only the start. These requirements are being rolled out all over the country. The Government has promised to replace this broken law at some point in a few years.

But these costs are happening right now. Regional councils are spending millions as they are legally required to work with local iwi to determine what te Mana o te Wai means in their particular area.

As the plans are developed (and in Otago’s case actually implemented) the special interests and expectations get bedded in.

The longer the Government waits, the harder these plans will be to unwind (and the more the special interests will complain to the media).

That’s why we can’t afford to wait. And the solution is just the stroke of the Minister’s pen away: Ministers Chris Bishop and Simeon Brown can repeal David Parker’s National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management which contains the te Mana o te Wai provisions.

The Taxpayers’ Union and Federated Farmers are working to stop this dead in its tracks by asking Ministers to scrap Te Mana o te Wai.

Please join me in supporting the Taxpayers’ Union, and the Federated Farmers, by emailing the Ministers.

It needs to happen now, not three years down the line after all the damage has been done. 

>> Email the Ministers <<

I appreciate that this water stuff is hugely complicated – these rules are totally different to the “Three Waters”, but will affect local water supplies (and cause costs to skyrocket!) just the same.

The simple lesson is we can’t ask councils to regulate “mana” or “life-force” of water as it’s just a recipe for crazy costs and a poorer New Zealand.

Please join me in emailing the Ministers today.

Thanks for your support, 

Peter Williams
Financial Supporter and Former Board Member
New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

In as much rain as you’d expect in an English summer, there was lots of dark skin on display, which was to be expected, but also lots of Drag Queens. Hmm. Why are Wokeists obsessed with them?

Drag Queens depict the Last Supper(!)

media release from the Environmental Protection Authority

An independent panel has granted resource consent, subject to conditions, to subdivide land for a housing development in Waikanae. The project includes restoring the Waimeha Stream tributary.

Bulletin Trust applied for resource consent under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020.

The project includes subdividing land into 113 allotments ranging from 430 sq metres to 14,300 sq metres, creating an open public space and restoring the riparian [transition/interface between land and a river or stream —Eds] margins of the Waimeha and Kakariki streams.

The resource consent decision comes 142 working days after the application was lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority.

The Environmental Protection Authority is not involved in the decision-making. We provide procedural advice and administrative support to the panel convenor, Judge Laurie Newhook, and the expert consenting panel he appoints.

The decision documents on the EPA website

Although the owners of the U.S. Democrats are pretty obvious.

Albeit more peacefully than they did in 1939-1945

from Redacted.inc

The NATO flag, a Nazi symbol and the Nazi flag together; they couldn’t be more accurate.

Nazis are on tour in Europe. Did you get your tickets? 

Ukraine has sent its 3rd Assault Brigade to tour nine cities in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania. This brigade includes fighters from the Azov Regiment. They are neo-Nazis who have been attacking civilians in the now Russian-controlled Donbas since 2014.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called this “a disgusting phenomenon” and “an ugly display of the Kiev regime.” He said that it proves that Ukraine has no problem being “one of the cradles of the revival of Nazism on the European continent.”

Meanwhile, Russia claims to have struck a “temporary deployment site for foreign mercenaries in the industrial zone of the city of Kharkov, killing up to 100 military personnel, including 40 foreign instructors.” Foreign instructors from where exactly? Will Western governments tell us if our own fighters are being killed fighting for Ukraine? [They won’t. —Eds]

Russia again said that it would participate in peace negotiations with Ukraine but needs to understand whether or not Ukraine is serious. Ukrainian President Zelensky banned himself from negotiating with Russia so the Kremlin wants to know if those self-imposed restrictions remain in place. 

Last month U.S. home prices hit an average high of $426,900 which is about $NZ 712,000 and despite the weak NZ dollar is still cheaper than in NZ which according to QV is $916,000. However, a lot depends on which state you go to — California prices are the highest, like everything else in Gavin’s turf, followed by Hawaii.

Huckster — someone who sells or advertises something in an aggressive, dishonest, or annoying way; anyone who sells something or serves biased interests, using pushy or showy tactics.

From the Dutch noun hokester and verb hoeken, which means “to peddle.”

Biden brags about the disastrous Harris-Biden foreign policy after they brought the world to the brink of another war pic.twitter.com/emc4FTSNk3

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2024

And like his henchmen he doesn’t let up with the lies…

BIDEN: "We're also securing our border."

FALSE. Harris and Biden have ferried 10+ million unvetted illegal aliens — including terrorists and violent criminals — across the border and directly into our communities. pic.twitter.com/fRkAklo4KY

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2024

And he wants to meddle with the courts a lot more than the DNC has already:

BIDEN: "Supreme Court reform" is "critical to our democracy" because I don't like some of their decisions pic.twitter.com/9tL3Gx467L

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 25, 2024

from the L.A. Times

Four defendants from Los Angeles County who allegedly took part in a series of armed heists targeting small businesses — mostly 7-Eleven stores in South Los Angeles — were hit with a Federal indictment. The nearly two-month crime spree took place late last year, after which they posted photographs on Instagram of themselves holding stolen cash.

The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday and charges the suspected robbers with nine counts including conspiracy to interference with commerce by robbery. The defendants were identified as Charles Christopher, 24, of Compton; D’Angelo Spencer, 26, of South L.A.; Jordan Leonard, 25, of Torrance; and Tazjar Rouse, 22, of Hollywood.

On November 28, 2023, following the robbery of a 7-Eleven store in South Los Angeles earlier that day, Leonard shared a photograph on Instagram of stacks of cash, captioning his post: “love my bros we go hit every time,” and tagging the Instagram accounts of Christopher and Spencer, the indictment alleges.

Read more