In a case that has major implications for co-governance, Ngāi Tahu is suing the Crown in a landmark High Court case to force co-management of South Island freshwater resources.
The government, however, is pushing back hard, arguing that Ngāi Tahu’s claims have no legal standing beyond historical settlements.
Blaming intensive dairy farming, Ngāi Tahu argue that successive governments have failed to protect water bodies and breached Treaty obligations.
The iwi seeks legal recognition of its rangatiratanga (chiefly authority) over freshwater, claiming past government commitments were “empty words” that have led to a near-disastrous state of water quality.
Ngāi Tahu’s legal team is led by one of co-governance’s main architects, former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson KC.
He says the Treaty of Waitangi guarantees the iwi’s authority over natural resources and that the 1997 Deed of Settlement did not extinguish its freshwater rights.
Finlayson argues that the Crown must go beyond consultation and design freshwater policy in partnership with Ngāi Tahu.
The Crown rejects these claims, asserting its sole right to control and regulate freshwater under existing laws. Government lawyers argue that some or all of Ngāi Tahu’s rights have been modified, suspended, or extinguished, that Treaty settlements already resolved such claims, and that the court should not interfere in policy decisions or parliamentary sovereignty.
They frame Ngāi Tahu’s lawsuit as an attempt to override democratic governance by demanding direct influence over resource management.
Centrist Ltd.