Ex-minister bats off Lake Taupō plan co-governance fears

Thursday, 17 July 2025

Former National Party Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson KC, says Hobson’s Pledge is ‘peddling mischief’ over a joint management agreement in Taupō.

A former Treaty of Waitangi negotiations minister says the “sour right” have been “peddling mischief” about a Lake Taupō management agreement and should simply “go away”.

But Don Brash, the former National leader turned lobbyist, maintains the deal is a co-governance arrangement that needs public scrutiny.

Chris Finlayson, KC, a former National Party Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations says the efforts of lobby group Hobson’s Pledge to undermine a joint management agreement (JMA) between Ngāti Tūwharetoa and the Taupō District Council should be ignored, and any suggestion of “people trying to steal the lake is ridiculous”.

In response, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Dr Don Brash said he believed the JMA was a co-governance agreement and it was “very hard to interpret it in any other way”.

Taupō District councillor Duncan Campbell asked Hobson’s Pledge for ‘independent scrutiny’ of a joint management agreement with local iwi Tūwharetoa.

Taupō MP Louise Upston says because the council is involved “the community has an interest and therefore visibility would be useful and expected”.

On July 3, talks regarding a major update of a 15-year-old JMA between Taupō’s council and the region’s largest landowners - Ngāti Tūwharetoa - packed out the council’s public gallery.

A few days before the workshop, Taupō District councillor Duncan Campbell took issue with the draft agreement, and enlisted Hobson’s Pledge to advertise his concerns to a wider audience, and to “seek independent scrutiny”.

Taupō mayor David Trewavas said the JMA was not about co-governance but about protecting Lake Taupō for generations to come.

His concerns were the financial implications of the agreement, its “expanded jurisdictional scope, Treaty-framed governance language”, and the absence of public consultation.

The council says the JMA is in place to protect the water of Lake Taupō (Taupō Moana) and the upper Waikato River, and fulfils legislative requirements under the Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Raukawa, and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Act 2010.

The updated document would “enable the shared protection and restoration” of the district’s waterways for future generations, and allows both organisations to collaborate on work such as monitoring and enforcement, district plan reviews, and resource consent assessments.

The agreement was designed to protect Lake Taupō, its tributaries, and the upper Waikato River, for future generations.

Finlayson told the Waikato Times that people should look at Tūwharetoa’s contribution to the national economy instead of what he said they are not doing - undermining peoples’ land or water rights.

“Hobson’s Pledge can rage as much as they like, they do the country a huge disservice by peddling this mischief.

“Sadly, they are a small group of the sour right … and basically, Māori have greater respect for Pākehā land rights than Pākehā have for Māori land rights.

Taupō MP Louise Upston says the Taupō community would expect to be part of the process.

“I find all of this rhetoric boring … to say they are denying access to the lake is pathetic and is an unfortunate part of people spreading all this fear and nonsense, expressed though angry and ignorant statements.

“All I would tell Hobson’s Pledge to do is just go away.“

Taupō mayor David Trewavas said the JMA was all about cleaning up Lake Taupō, and keeping it clean, and would consider public consultation options, and costs, in the coming weeks.

“All I encourage people to do is read the document and understand it, and if they have reasonable questions, please ask.

Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Don Brash says he believes the JMA should be consulted on, even though he says it’s basically a co-governance agreement.

“It’s being mixed up with co-governance, and it has nothing to do with that, and unless you actually read the document, it’s hard to comment to these people.”

Trewavas says he’s “copped a lot of flack” from people who have not read the JMA and were relying on outside sources to form their opinions.

Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board chairman John Bishara said he’d heard enough from “stirrers” and wanted to “stick to the facts”.

“We have worked with consecutive governments over the years, including Chris Finlayson, in the preservation of our rights over our taonga.

“The JMA just sets out how both of us will implement our joint responsibilities - it’s simple - when the council use our resources, they have responsibilities to the iwi.”

Upston said the JMA was a legal requirement and “amending an agreement is a legitimate outcome of any review”.

“That being said, I would expect that like most council business, the community has an interest and therefore visibility would be useful and expected.”

Brash said the council had every right to review its JMA, “if the community thinks that's appropriate”.

“If the community discusses it and in some kind of democratic way decides they want to share power in a co-governance type arrangement with the local iwi, then it's not for us to disagree with that.

“We may think it's unwise, and short-sighted, but that's a democratic decision.”