A Question of Power - The Manapouri Debate

There are so many questions on your placards, that frankly, I couldn’t answer them all.

– Prime Minister Keith Holyoake

We were very concerned initially that there were no environmental studies on the lake shore ... no attempt to understand the impact of the lake raising on the natural systems of the lake and lake shore.

– Dr Alan Mark

Mr Holyoake [then-Prime Minister] claimed all the time that I was making an emotional issue out of it. I reminded him that a little emotion now and then over things that really mattered was not necessarily a bad thing.

– Ronald McLean, farmer and ‘Save Manapouri’ campaign leader

I wouldn’t like to face my children in the future and say I hadn’t done anything to prevent this happening.

– An office worker is asked why he’s marching in protest against the Manapouri plans

If conservation is seen as the wise use of resources [then] proper appraisal is now more critical than ever. In a world increasingly hungry, the pressure to develop water and other natural resources for energy and other purposes will soon be unprecedented. Perhaps the real battles have hardly begun.

– From the narration