Labour's water policy architect and Environment Minister David Parker is going full steam ahead with freshwater rights, but not everybody is on board.

OPINION: There's one hell of a stoush brewing in Cabinet over freshwater rights.

If there's one thing water-related that Labour and NZ First will never agree on it's giving Māori ownership rights to freshwater, and as for the Greens - they won't have a bar of continuing any large-scale irrigation schemes.

The whole issue of water has been bubbling away for years - there's a reason the former National Government never did anything substantial - it's a Pandora's box.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Crown/Māori Relations Minister Kelvin Davis wants the brakes put on freshwater rights issues so iwi can be properly consulted.

National had their supply and confidence partner, the Māori Party, to deal with during the last nine years but that's nothing compared to the issue Labour has with both NZ First and the Greens.

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Labour's water royalties policy architect, David Parker, is gearing up to go full steam ahead with water issues, now that his focus on getting the CPTPP across the line is all but delivered, but it's not just NZ First he's got beef with.

Parker's policy allows for a royalty on commercial water consumption, which will help with the cost of cleaning up waterways and resolving long-standing Treaty water claims.

It's understood there's huge tension between Parker and Crown/Māori Relations Minister Kelvin Davis, who is feeling sidelined by Parker's determination to make progress on water rights quickly regardless of whether that's the right approach for iwi.

Davis wants to learn from past mistakes with the Foreshore and Seabed legislation, which led to Māori voters leaving Labour in droves, and more recently changes to how the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) scrutinises forestry.

WARWICK SMITH/STUFF NZ First leader Winston Peters and his party colleagues have no interest in giving Māori rights to freshwater under a coalition government with Labour.

Davis is said to be furious about the pace in which the OIO changes were pushed through, leaving no time for genuine iwi consultation, and is warning Parker the brakes need to go on before he opens the floodgates on freshwater rights.

Māori put their faith back in Labour at last year's election when they returned all seven Māori seats to the party and banished the Māori Party from Parliament in the process.

But with those seats comes expectation - more expectation than most.

SUPPLIED Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little met with representatives from Ngāpuhi last weekend to discuss a new deal to try and reach settlement with the country's largest iwi. L- R Rudy Taylor, Little, Pita Tipene, Hone Sadler (behind) and Sonny Tau.

Davis knows that and while Parker might see a big legacy on the horizon if he can get freshwater rights resolved once and for all, if he doesn't get it right for iwi then it's Labour's Māori caucus who will wear the mess.

As for NZ First, they have their voter base to worry about and with Labour already starting to suck up their votes in the latest polls, their concern is warranted.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is staunchly opposed to any policy he sees as separatist and giving Māori any sort of ownership over water will always be a step too far for NZ First.

The party can't afford to sell out on that for the sake of a coalition government because it would come back to bite them in the polls in 2020.

While Labour might have them on board when it comes to charging water bottle companies, that's about where it stops.

The Greens are sitting on a supply and confidence deal with Labour that says no new irrigation schemes will be funded and the existing ones will be wound down.

Irrigation scheme operators are crying out for clear information on what that means but the advice seems to be almost non-existent as Labour tries to work out how to keep them and the Greens happy.

All these differences and various relationship-managing exercises are all part of a wider powerhouse growing within Cabinet - something the Greens don't have a seat at.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Peters, Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Parker are the grunt behind any of the big decisions coming out of Government.

There's a wider group - Justice Minister Andrew Little, Housing Minister Phil Twyford and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have influence as well.

But that's where Davis' frustration grows further.

He was made deputy leader of the Labour Party during the campaign and to his credit helped unite the Māori vote behind Labour.

But he's not in the inner circle in the same way Peters, Robertson and Parker are and it's understood those feelings of being sidelined on issues like freshwater (where iwi relations are crucial) led to words between him and Parker ahead of Cabinet's meeting on Monday.

Ardern and Peters were both in the Pacific leaving Davis as acting Prime Minister and chair of Cabinet committee.

But it's understood things were delayed on Monday as Davis, Robertson and Parker had words about the way some issues were being progressed without fully considering the impact it would have on Māori.

All of this comes on the back of another meeting at the weekend - this one between Little and leaders from the two groups divided over the mandate for the Ngāpuhi Treaty settlement.

Davis, Jones and Peters all descend from Ngāpuhi along with a number of other MPs but even they don't all agree on the best way to reach a settlement.

The meeting in Wellington was leaked to media despite a promise from the four iwi representatives in attendance to keep it secret.

Little is adamant he can get a deal on the table with the country's largest iwi by 2020 but that will require a bit of compromise from all parties involved.

While Tuhoronuku, the entity currently holding the mandate for negotiations, was accused by the former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson of holding things up, it seems the pendulum may have swung the other way.

Representatives from Te Kotahitanga have a new opportunity under Little to be involved in the mandate but questions are being raised as to whether there's ulterior motives at play.

That extends to suggestions some Ngāpuhi who hapu to Ngati Hine are trying to keep their own separate deal alive.

That's not an option the Government would consider but Little is running out of time before he will have to put an end to talks and just make a decision.

If that decision doesn't please everyone there's only one place it will go - the Waitangi Tribunal.

That's the same place that's been dealing with freshwater rights issues, which have got so out of hand it's made its way to the Supreme Court.

Between Ngapuhi's settlement and Labour's royalty policy there's a lot of water to go under the bridge before the next election.