Opinion: Cr Esther Whitehead on wastewater & emergency powers

By Councillor Esther Whitehead

Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant and Proposed Emergency Powers

Councillors were briefed on Thursday, 20 March, where officers stated they would be engaging with iwi, rūnaka, and the community in the coming days, with a media stand-up scheduled for Wednesday, 26 March, to inform the wider public of the intention to use emergency powers.

The following are my personal views on the situation.

1. The Core Issue: Emergency Powers for discharging treated effluent.

The core issue is the failure of the gravel disposal field, and there are very few options for how to address this. The discharge into (and out of) the disposal field will stop as of today (Monday 31st March) so stagnant treated water will then be allowed to drain away. The failure of the disposal field is a legacy issue that no one wants to be dealing with, but the community - and I - want to know if any alternative solutions exist and what they would cost as an interim solution. Right now, the interim solution of discharging treated water to the Shotover river as of today (Monday 31st March) will meet all applicable standards for bathing water and will be monitored regularly and results shared with the community. This is treated effluent.

The decision to explore the use of emergency powers was not made at the governance (councillor) level. I do not support using emergency powers in this case for treated water being discharged to the Shotover for the planned 5 year interim because I have not seen the supporting evidence to justify their use. This does not mean there is no evidence, it’s just that I have not been witness to it. If there has been an investigation into increased bird activity at the oxidation ponds and the associated aviation risk, that information should have been provided to councillors. It should be made publicly available in due course so that residents also understand the decision to use emergency powers.

2. Process Integrity and Community Trust

This entire situation highlights why Council must improve its communication on major issues. While QLDC’s website contains factual information, the reality is that few people seek it out. When communication is patchy, slow, hard to find, or completely absent, it creates a vacuum that fuels speculation and mistrust. People feel left in the dark—or worse, that there is secrecy. That erodes confidence, and right now, trust in QLDC is at an all-time low. In the latest case of the planned use of emergency powers, the integrity of the process was undermined and now we need to discover it that’s appropriate.

Then something else happened. Imagine I tell you that we need to announce something urgent and negative to the community next Wednesday. But before we do that, we need to talk to all the key partners, discuss the intention with them, and plan a proper announcement—one where we invite all media, explain the situation clearly, and make sure people hear it from the source, demonstrating accountability for the decision.

Now imagine that before there’s been a chance to do that, someone jumps the gun and tells the media. Suddenly, the news is out before partners even know what’s happening. Instead of a planned consultation on invoking emergency powers and a transparent address to the community, partners and the public are left feeling blindsided, and Council is accused of failing to engage.

That’s exactly what happened here. This wasn’t ‘the leak of a secret plan’, Councillor Gladding announced in advance exactly what QLDC informed councillors they were going to announce the following Wednesday which QLDC then did deliver on in the media stand-up, exactly as they had briefed councillors.
This doesn’t mean I condone the use of emergency powers but I do believe QLDC should have been the one to announce the process they outlined in that briefing. Councillor Gladding claimed QLDC didn’t consult iwi, rūnaka and ORC, ironically, by going to the media a day before QLDC were about to consult with stakeholders, she created the very problem she was complaining about. This is a separate issue to the core issue in #1 above but it’s really important. Unfortunately disrupting the process didn’t help— it has further confused the whole issue. It did not change any outcomes.

3. Next Steps

Understandably, the community is frustrated. People want to trust that decisions are being made in a way that respects proper process. I agree.

The agenda for the extraordinary meeting today includes recommendations regarding Councillor Gladding’s conduct of rushing the announcement before stakeholders were engaged. I do not support removing Councillor Gladding from committees (as recommended in the council report) as I think it doesn’t follow a fair process, I believe a Code of Conduct inquiry is a fair and transparent process. The code of conduct inquiry would be costly to the rate payer and time consuming and not likely to achieve much which leads me to believe that I will likely lean towards taking ‘no action’ given the proximity to the end of the political term.

A Personal Note

As someone with a background in freshwater ecology, I care deeply about protecting our waterways and Te Mana o Te Wai. That must be at the forefront of both short- and long-term solutions, and any changes to interim and long-term measures should be communicated openly and in a timely manner.

To be clear, I do not support invoking emergency powers with the information I have but may do so if provided the evidence. The lack of objective advice and evidence means I share concerns with Councillor Gladding.

There’s a difference between making noise and creating effective outcomes. My focus remains on achieving meaningful solutions in the face of dire legacy issues and ensuring natural justice is upheld in ongoing decision-making. I find myself describing the grey in between the back/white, right/wrong which is not the stuff of headlines but hopefully provides some balanced views.

As I shared back in June 2024, I won’t be standing again in the next election. I am not comfortable with the level of accountability for the limited ability to influence that I have at QLDC. I have been stunned a number of times. From October 2025, I’ll be focusing my energy entirely on my day job where I feel I make a meaningful difference.

This has been a long-standing and difficult issue, and I know many of you are frustrated. You deserve better communication, better transparency, and better engagement. That’s something I will continue to push for while I’m still here.