An insightful question

Stuff reports on the Maori Council court case:

Justice Young said he did not understand why the Government needed to act before the transfer because water rights were determined under the Resource Management Act and the Government could change that any time in favour of Maori. ”I don’t follow why it matters who owns Mighty River Power.”

Exactly. Contact Energy was sold totally and this is no way impacted any rights around water. The mechanisms for recognizing water rights are not linked to the ownership status.

One can of course not judge the outcome off one possible isolated comment, but it is heartening to see the Judge identify the core issue.