National Party Leader Simon Bridges says the previous National Party government did nothing wrong by courting a Chinese company to set up a water bottling plant near Whakatane, and stresses that the final decision was made by current Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage.
Whakatane locals have been outraged at recent findings that the previous government actively encouraged Nong Fu to apply to take more than a billion litres of water per year from Otakiri springs.
Documents released under the Official Information Act show New Zealand Trade and Enterprise actively encouraged the company to apply to the Overseas Investment Office for consent, with Nong Fu saying on its application "NZTE indicated the investment would be welcome".
The company has plans to bottle more than a billion litres of water from Otakiri Springs annually.
Minister for Economic Development, Environment, and Trade and Export Growth David Parker's office yesterday told 1 NEWS those were the actions of the previous government.
However, the final approval was given this year in June by Associate Finance Minister David Clark and Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage.
Mr Bridges this morning told TVNZ1's Breakfast today it was "a bit cute" of the Government to say it wasn't on them.
"I'm not sitting here from the pulpit saying they got it wrong or some such thing, but it is a bit cute for them to hide behind [the previous government's courting of Nong Fu] - ultimately those ministers made the decision," he said.
"Eugenie Sage had the absolute discretion - I know because I've sat in that chair."
The decision to grant the application caused an internal issue within the Green Party, with some members threatening to quit the party over it.
Ms Sage told reporters in June she was aware of the backlash, and that "as a minister I have to make hard decisions ... it was a hard decision that I thought long and hard about".
Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson then said Ms Sage had been "constrained by a flawed Act which says we are unable to take environmental and Treaty decisions into account".
"We don't like it and even the minister has been upfront about the constraints ... we will continue to lobby for water bottle levies and for ensuring we have better understanding of environmental, Treaty and economic gains working together in these decisions."
The Green Party last month announced they will review whether water extraction should be a factor when offshore companies want to buy land here.
Mr Bridges has said he supports a levy on bottled water exports, but also acknowledged that such a measure would come with significant issues, and has also said he's interested to see what the Green Party review will yield.
His party's view on New Zealand's water is that "everyone owns it - or no one owns it" and he believes taking a profit from it could open up the government to legal action and "very chunky, difficult iwi issues, which I think a lot of New Zealanders would be a bit worried about".
The Labour Government had initially proposed the 2c-per-1000-litre levy before being elected, but that proposal was canned after they did a deal with NZ First to form the government.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said, "I have seen some initiatives that will help us achieve our outcome of at least NZ getting some benefit from the export of bottled water without breaching our trade agreements".
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