Greens launch election campaign, propose 10c a litre charge for bottled water sales.
Greens launch election campaign, propose 10c a litre charge for bottled water sales 9 Jul, 2017 5:33pm 3 minutes to read The Green Party has launched its election campaign focusing on what it hopes will be a hot-button issue: charging companies that sell or export bottled water from New Zealand.
At its campaign launch in Nelson, Green Party co-leader James Shaw set out new policy to charge water bottlers 10 cents a litre on sales and exports of bottled water, saying companies that profited from New Zealand’s water should pay for the privilege.
Shaw said the split for local Maori was in recognition that long-term solutions to water charging had to recognise Treaty of Waitangi rights.
About 73 companies have consents to take water for bottling, about 23 billion litres a year – but pay just $200 a year to do to.
About 27 million litres was exported in 2016.
The party also intends to forge ahead with a plan to charge all commercial users of water, such as for irrigation.
Shaw said water bottling and exporting was not the only sector which was profiting from the use of water, and better protection was needed as well as fair charging.
"At the same time, water bottling companies are taking the purest, cleanest water out from under our feet."
Shaw said the Greens also wanted better regulations to protect the sources of drinking water and would reinstate funding for small communities and marae to improve their drinking water sources.