Taika Waititi labelled 'treasonous' for saying he isn't proud of New Zealand.

Broadcaster Duncan Garner has called Taika Waititi "treasonous" for speaking his mind on New Zealand's environmental woes, concerning suicide rate and lack of affordable housing.

Waititi, this year's New Zealander of the Year and director of the soon-to-be-released Thor: Ragnarok, told Marae he wasn't proud to be a Kiwi when so many problems appeared to be ignored.

Stuff columnist Duncan Garner delivered a punchy editorial against the director on The AM Show Thursday morning. He called Waititi "treasonous" for voicing his concerns on the nation's state of affairs.

MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS Director Taika Waititi has spoken about New Zealand's dirty rivers.

"He was New Zealander of the year, this year 2017, so he's an ambassador for New Zealand now ... you cannot be this treasonous about your own country. You cannot say you're not proud to be a New Zealander if you're the New Zealander of the year," Garner said.

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Waititi said New Zealand's waterways were "poisoned".

BEVAN READ/STUFF Duncan Garner is criticising a Kiwi film director for saying he isn't proud of New Zealand.

"I'm not very proud of coming from a place which everyone overseas thinks is this clean, green country," he said.

Garner argued that the criticism was wrong because he thought only some waterways were "dodgy", not all of them. "Wrong," Garner declared. "It's not all poison. Some of them, some of them are pretty dodgy I agree."

In the Marae interview, Waititi had listed a string of problems he saw with New Zealand, one of which was the state of our rivers. Garner agreed with all the other issues but still found issue with Waititi calling them out.

"He's right on many things. Yes, we've got issues with our housing and mental health and depression and suicide numbers," the journalist said. "I get all that."

"I've got a problem with it, because you have to be accurate as New Zealander of the Year, and I reckon he's thrown New Zealand under the bus," the former political editor concluded.

Garner came under fire himself last week for a controversial opinion piece that was accused of being racist.

In the piece, Garner argued that New Zealand had failed to properly plan for our increasing population. He criticised the government for not installing a Minister of Population and Planning. His article was set in K-Mart, where he noted a lot of people from Asia were lined up in a snake-like queue.

Earlier, Garner wrote about dirty waterways himself. "National is also ambivalent on climate change, dirty rivers and our waterways. Action is needed now, not another kick for touch," he said ahead of the election.

In a cutting criticism of National's nine years in office, Garner said New Zealand was close to falling apart. "Yes the headline numbers around the economy look good. And they are. But the family tree underneath is stressed and in some instances broken."

Confronted, Garner stuck by his statement. Media personality Colin Mathura-Jeffree contacted The AM Show to say he supported Waititi for speaking out when so few celebrities would. "Taika should speak truly, he loves New Zealand, and he should speak out freely," he wrote.

The New Zealander of the Year is an award, put on by corporate sponsors, where the public votes to "celebrate those people who use their passion for New Zealand to make our country a better place"

Waititi has been a vocal advocate for indigenous peoples here and in Australia where he made a point of hiring local indigenous crew for Thor: Ragnarok. Back home, he was a spokesman for the Human Rights Commission's 2017 "Racism needs your help" anti-racism campaign. He also campaigned for The Greens in the 2017 election.

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