Ministerial Statements — Drinking-water Supplies—Contamination, Havelock North Inquiry Stage 2 Release

I wish to make a ministerial statement under Standing Order 356 in relation to the stage 2 report on the Havelock North drinking-water inquiry.

Can I begin by thanking the members of the inquiry panel: former Court of Appeal judge the Hon Lyn Stevens QC, former Director-General of Health Dr Karen Poutasi, and vastly experienced water engineer Anthony Wilson for the work that they have put into this detailed and thoughtful report.

Drinking water is the most basic determinant of daily health. The report tabled today highlights that the quality of drinking water in New Zealand is too often inadequate and that regulation and enforcement have both been poor. We must do better.

The report shows what most New Zealanders will see as shocking levels of non-compliance with current drinking-water standards and Government incompetence, especially at the Ministry of Health. The first report following the Havelock North drinking-water calamity catalogued how 5,500 people fell ill, causing over 100 people to be hospitalised; long-term, painful reactive arthritis; Guillain-Barré paralysis; and a contribution to the premature death of at least two people.

The first report found long-term incompetence at the Hastings District Council, poorly maintained bores, a history of bacterial infections that were ignored, and an inadequate understanding of the aquifers by both the district and regional council. No one at the district council resigned or properly accepted responsibility.

The second report shows that the Havelock North example, whilst extreme, is not isolated. It catalogues serious failings by the Ministry of Health before and after Havelock North. It reports that, despite serious non-compliance by many water suppliers, the Ministry of Health have not issued one compliance notice or taken one enforcement action anywhere in New Zealand in the last five years. It shows unsafe drinking water is causing many tens of thousands, undoubtedly—perhaps up to 100,000 people, according to the inquiry—to fall ill every year from drinking water that comes out of their taps.

Eighty percent of New Zealanders live in areas where the inquiry has determined that water standards are adhered to. Large cities such as Auckland and Wellington city are well-serviced. People there have no need to be concerned by the findings of this report. The recommendations are focused on bringing other parts of New Zealand up to standard. The main problems are bacterial infections like campylobacter, protozoan infections causing cryptosporidium, viruses causing other gastroenteritis, and nitrate levels at excessive levels.

The report presents New Zealand and international evidence in support of recommendations that all reticulated water schemes should have their water treated. It rejects the view that regular testing of bore water is sufficient, noting that rain events, droughts, earthworks, and earthquakes all give rise to risks, meaning that even if testing is faultless, contaminated water can sometimes pass into the system for days prior to detection. It also explains that broken underground pipes and backflow elsewhere in the pipe system mean that even if pure water leaves reservoirs, the water can be, and sometimes is, contaminated before it reaches taps.

In addition to recommending the mandatory treatment of water, the report recommends a new regulator, fewer water suppliers—who should operate across larger regions in order to reduce costs and improve outcomes—and a licensing regime for drinking-water suppliers.

The report makes 51 detailed and specific recommendations. Some can be addressed quickly. The Government has today written to mayors and district health boards (DHBs) throughout New Zealand, asking them to check that the water they’re supplying residents meets current standards, given the report finds significant non-compliance. Alongside this, the Minister of Health, Dr David Clark, will brief Cabinet before Christmas on the next steps, short and long term. Overall, this report raises serious concerns about the oversight and infrastructure.

I will just make a couple of quotes, in closing, from the report itself. It says there’s “widespread systemic failure among water suppliers to meet the high standards required”; “The industry has demonstrated that it is not capable of … improving when the standards are not met.”; neither the Ministry of Health nor others have “shown an ability to call the industry to account.”; “currently [there is] no adequate or effective enforcement of … statutory obligations”; and “the … water industry has over at least [five years] experienced problems on multiple levels.”

There are many other passages in the report, which I would recommend that all members of Parliament read—and all mayors and all DHB chairs—before they take the steps that they need to make in order to better protect the public.

Thank you. I join with Mr Parker in thanking the panel, the Hon Lyn Stevens, Dr Karen Poutasi, and Anthony Wilson, for their outstanding work. They have provided the thorough and robust report that I’d hoped for when I first approached them. They’ve served their country well.

The National Opposition welcomes the recommendations and agrees they will substantially improve the safety of drinking water in Havelock North and the rest of this country, which is why we as a Government went to the extent of setting up this inquiry. The previous Government carried out extensive work with Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) over water, infrastructure, and regulation. The National Infrastructure Plan had identified water infrastructure as the poorest performing sector across our infrastructure networks. As a result, we worked with LGNZ to get agreement on the best regulatory model, and spent a number of years on that. We agreed that this inquiry would be the vehicle to take that issue forward. The report highlights a quantum shift in how we should manage the state of our drinking water.

This is an issue that is above politics; it’s about doing what’s right for residents, and the new Government will have our support in any law changes required to implement the recommendations. The report addresses problems that have occurred over a number of years spanning both Governments, but the important thing is that the recommendations are adopted as quickly as possible. Local councils around New Zealand will need to sit up, as the Minister said, and take notice of this. It’s highlighted that the Havelock North contamination showed a series of risks that have been subsequently found in many other parts of this country.

Once again, we sympathise with the people of Havelock North, who were so badly affected by the contamination, and especially those who continue to deal with health problems related to the contamination. The incident severely affected the town’s residents, and I’m pleased the inquiry has comprehensively identified the cause of the outbreak, as well as applied robust recommendations to prevent future outbreaks.

As the Attorney-General said, Part 23 of the report sets out a number of urgent and early recommendations, the most significant of which is the proposal that a dedicated drinking-water regulator should be established early and promptly. There are a number of other urgent recommendations, and, as I have said, the Opposition will support the Government on any law changes required to implement the recommendations.

That was a very illusory speech, evincing care without any responsibility—an attempt to escape responsibility. This report is the perfect embodiment of neglect in the regions by the past Government, and it shows.

💬 Hon Dr Nick Smith: Rubbish!

And it’s no use screaming out that it’s rubbish. I’ll leave that specialty to you later; I’m talking about the report now. There is nothing more fundamental than the provision of clean drinking-water—a basic need of people. In fact, the mayor of that area, of course, at the time they were making a complaint, was scheming to be a candidate for the National Party, which was overlooked today.

The people of Havelock North have been badly let down, and just launching a report as though that’s an act of responsibility doesn’t cut it in a democracy. What they experienced was reprehensible. It was a failure of leadership. It was a failure of governance agencies to ensure public safety and well-being, and I think we all owe the panel that produced that report a lot for exposing what should have been known and had been forewarned for some considerable time. It was a failure to guard against complacency that led to contamination of drinking water, and New Zealand First wants to place that on the record, rather than let the former responsible Minister sitting on the other side get away with a performance like that.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to acknowledge the two people who likely lost their lives because of what occurred in Havelock North last year, and their loved ones, for whom I imagine today could be yet another very difficult day in their grieving process. On behalf of the Green Party, I would like to extend my sincerest condolences to them. I’d also like to acknowledge the more than 5,000 people who fell ill simply because of the water that they drank. It is an absolute disgrace, what happened to the people of Havelock North. All New Zealanders should be able to trust the water that comes out of their taps, and we should not live in fear of it.

The Green Party campaigned, as did our colleagues in the Labour Party, on the issue of clean drinking-water during this year’s election, and our choice to do so was made with good reason. We did it because of what happened to the people of Havelock North and our determination that it would never happen again.

Aotearoa New Zealand is a wealthy, privileged, sophisticated country. It is unconscionable that in 2016, in New Zealand, we had people who lost their lives and thousands of people falling ill because they drank a glass of water, washed their hands, or ate something that they washed from a tap. But it did happen, and that is why this report released today is so important. We cannot allow what happened to the people of Havelock North to happen again, ever, anywhere.

I’d like to acknowledge the work that has gone into this report. It is a comprehensive piece of work, and it has clear recommendations that I know that this Government will consider seriously and urgently. I know that this Government is committed to improving water quality across the board, and this report rightly focuses on our drinking water, but that is connected to our rivers, our lakes, our aquifers, and our oceans, all of which are under threat from pollution and degradation.

Within this report are recommendations around the safety standards and classifications of our drinking water, around compliance and enforcement of standards, and for more oversight over our water supply by both regional councils and central government. There is also a stark warning contained within the report that 20 percent of New Zealanders are living in areas that are vulnerable to outbreaks similar to what happened in Havelock North. For those people, it is absolutely essential that we have stronger, enforceable drinking-water standards and much more robust systems that respond quickly when those standards are breached. It is also absolutely essential that there is better cooperation between regional and local councils, and central government, particularly with regard to critical infrastructure. All of these things must happen urgently.

I know that this Government, and the Green Party, which stands as a part of it, is absolutely committed to making the changes that we need to in order to assure all New Zealanders that the water coming out of their taps is safe to drink. That is their fundamental right, and it is our fundamental responsibility.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will just in the time available read out a couple of other quotes from the report: “there is little understanding amongst the New Zealand public about the number of people who are consuming water that is not demonstrably safe, the large numbers of people who become ill every year, or the burden this places on the country including, at its highest, through lost lives.” The inquiry panel members then comment on the fact that even since Havelock North, there has been very little improvement. In the last year they say there’s been only a 1.1 percent improvement in respect of the problematic areas, and that shields some decreases in those areas.

They say that we “compare poorly internationally.” They say that “The Ministry’s performance in relation to enforcement has been, … seriously deficient.” Indeed, it is apparent even after Havelock North that, effectively, the ministry had to be led by the inquiry, rather than the inquiry being assisted by the ministry. They say that there’s been a complete failure of leadership and stewardship with the ministry for some years.

Can I thank the other party leaders for their comments.