"It’s time to get angry. This area [Cromwell] has been neglected and fed nonsense [about lagarosiphon] for the last 20 years," he said.
Mr Laws was guest speaker at a special meeting of the Guardians of Lake Dunstan in Cromwell on Thursday night.
Guardians chairman Andrew Burton said the group had called the meeting to discuss its continuing campaign to get more funding to control the noxious weed.
It was estimated there was now about 500ha of lagarosiphon clogging up Lake Dunstan, he said, but authorities were dealing with only about 70ha in "high value areas", mainly boat ramps and camping spots.
"We are just playing with this problem, but clearly the issue is funding, or lack of it."
Mr Laws said there was no budget for lagarosiphon in the ORC’s 2017-18 draft annual plan. He thought the council should be the lead agency for dealing with lagarosiphon as it had a statutory responsibility to protect the environment.
However, at present Land and Information New Zealand (Linz) was officially the lead agency for lagarosiphon, contributing $50,000 a year towards the issue alongside another $50,000 annually from Contact Energy.
An ORC spokesman said the council did not fund any physical work with lagarosiphon but contributed about $30,000-$40,000 of staff time annually to inter-agency work.Mr Laws said the lack of clarity over who had responsibility for controlling lagarosiphon was causing a real problem.
"Every agency says it’s not their problem — Linz, Contact, Fish and Game and the ORC. There’s a race to the exit to get away from responsibility."
Mr Laws said the nature of many Cromwell residents of "not wanting to give offence" was working against them when it came to lagarosiphon.
"You haven’t got upset enough. Politics works on a very simple principle. Those that make the most noise get the most action."
He encouraged the Guardians group to start a petition asking for more ORC funding and Mr Burton said yesterday a petition would be launched this month.
Mr Laws also encouraged Cromwell residents to make submissions on the ORC’s 2017-18 draft annual plan, asking the ORC to "do something about lagarosiphon".
Mr Burton said the Guardians group only wanted lagarosiphon properly contained, as it was impossible to get rid of it.
But Mr Laws said there was "promising" international research about the potential for eradication.
Clutha Fisheries Trust trustee Murray Neilson said lagarosiphon had some positive ecological values, providing structure and habitat for fish and other wildlife.
Mr Laws labelled Mr Neilson’s views as "absurd" and the exchange between the two men became heated.
Fellow trustee Dan Rae supported Mr Neilson’s comments, and Mr Rae and Mr Neilson walked out of the meeting partway through.
