From the Chief Executive

Ramping up as the end of the year looms

This year is proving to be as much of a seismic shift for democratic countries as 2020 was. Though now, as well as of health outcomes and protecting our people, the focus is also about the way we do business, how we organise government, and a significant change in policy settings.

As we recover from a pandemic, ongoing impacts are still being dealt with almost daily. Our government is getting bigger and more intervention is happening. Whether that is a good thing or not is probably not the question we need to be asking, as opposed to whether the intervention is having the desired impact; or more bluntly are the increased taxes and spending, having a more positive impact on the economy, environment, community, and our way of living than if we left it to the market. Spending more with little return in these areas would be the worst that could happen, so focusing on delivery now becomes increasingly important.

Even more liberal or right leaning governments across the world are intervening in areas of climate, health, and the environment at a greater rate than we have seen in the past, with more left leaning government policies. This spending stimulation to reset the world to be more sustainable and healthier as a planet is a noble goal, and one that most of us, especially those of us working on the land will agree with. The areas of disagreement when I meet with politicians, non-government organisations, (NGOs), industry, and farmers tend to be around the speed of the change, who needs to make the biggest changes, and how we go about it. The outcomes we mostly agree on.

So, when I meet with NGOs and discuss the waterways and how important they are to the ecology of the land and water, we agree improvement is needed and that people have had a negative impact – we agree that we all have a part to play in improvements for long term positive outcomes. It is when we start discussing how we can achieve those things, and whether it should be immediate or generational with the least impact on people that we start to disagree. Similarly, when I speak with politicians from the centre right versus the centre left – it is pretty close to the same conversations but, becomes about who controls the speed and what is needed – i.e., where legislation and regulation is required, and whether that should be a stick or a carrot.

We have seen more extremes in weather this year and the past few years, drier, more storms, more natural impacts, and with winter here this is more noticeable as communities rally around natural disasters. The more we can mitigate against this change, the better off we will be too. This does require longterm strategic investment of the kind being announced, as well as a national plan on the investment priorities.

New Zealand is on the cusp of some very big regulatory change, and water access, capture and storage are key to so many of the things we are trying to achieve as a country – from cheaper power, community drinking water, and improvements in productive use (and therefore economic prosperity). It is too easy to throw stones and to hold up past investment as a predictor for the future – we have all moved forward and know more about impacts and outcomes. It is important that we sit at the table and have robust open conversations, and it is pleasing to see more doors opening as we ingrain ourselves more in Wellington and talk more broadly with people who are interested in outcomes and the long-term sustainability of our country. If increased intervention and centralised investment is the way forward as we are seeing now, then water needs to be centre to this. If we are going to improve the lives of our communities, we need to be working on solutions that use this precious resource and working together to decarbonise our country, and increase our productivity – they go together, rather than compete.

“New Zealand is on the cusp of some very big regulatory change, and water access, capture and storage are key to so many of the things we are trying to achieve as a country – from cheaper power, community drinking water, and improvements in productive use (and therefore economic prosperity).”