Many pundits can’t understand why Labour are so set on passing the 3 Waters legislation.

3 Waters has been sold by the Right as a capitulation to Māori interests who will then steal all the water and stop whitey from drinking fresh water ever again.

What’s funny about this right wing trolling is that a cow has the faecal load of 14 humans, we have 10 million cows, that’s the equivalent of 140million humans pissing and shitting into our waters every single year, so the fresh water the Right claim to c are about isn’t actually that fresh.

There are 2 main reasons Labour has politically set in concrete this 3 Waters legislation.

The first is their history, the second is Key’s legacy.

Punters fail to understand the full impact of Helen Clark’s Seabed and Foreshore land confiscation on the Left. Here was a cherished labour leader who was confiscating Māori land rights to pacify the rednecks of NZ

Jacinda, Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson all worked in Helen’s Office in the wake of that land confiscation and saw the internal damage stealing Māori land had on the Left. Helen’s confiscation of Māori land rights saw the birth of the Māori Party who sided with National for a decade which helped lock Labour out of power for 3 terms.

This current Labour leadership know full well the political pain of stealing from Māoridom.

The second reason that has cemented Labour’s response is Key’s legacy of privatising the hydro-assets.

Māori had politely not pushed their water ownership rights when water was being used in the national interest, but the millisecond Key put a value on that water by privatising hydro assets, Māori interests were immediately triggered.

Māori went to the Tribunal in 2012 and the Tribunal agreed that Māori still had water rights which the Government must take into account now they had privatised 49% of the hydro assets.

These two events, Labour’s confiscation of Māori land rights and Key’s privatisation of hydro assets have combined to cement into place Labour’s 3 Waters.

Rather than risk Māori going back to Court to force the ownership issue again, Labour carefully constructed a co-governance model that would give Māori the legal rights they have already won while rebuilding the water infrastructure.

The racist backlash that 3 Waters has inspired however is simply too attractive for the Right and even if they win next year’s election and dismantle 3 Waters, it’s an almost certain bet that Māori would immediately lodge another Tribunal claim and an equally sizeable chance the Tribunal would be incredibly damning of  National/ACT robbing Māori of their already confirmed legal rights.

At that stage, National/ACT would either need to pass legislation removing Māori water rights altogether, or they just have to agree with 3 Waters.

No one seems to understand why 3 Waters is here nor what happens if rednecks stop it from being implemented.

Can you imagine redneck fury the moment they hear it’s going back to the Tribunal for another public spanking of their ignorance?

Happy Days.

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