National opposes Three Waters

People are right to be worried about the Government’s Three Waters policy. Three waters refers to Council’s drinking water, storm water and waste water assets.

Labour’s planned reforms will effectively nationalise the assets bought and paid for by generations of ratepayers and turn them over to four new huge water agencies covering all of New Zealand.

These changes will have massive implications on our communities, but there has been little to no public consultation. The Government has touted that the changes will bring cost savings, but their forecasts are based on unrealistic assumptions. All I can see is the potential to create another level of bureaucracy that water users will have to fund.

The other big risk is that areas with suitable water management systems will be subsidising those who haven’t invested in their infrastructure and therefore effectively paying twice. No doubt the improvement of water assets will be an ongoing issue, but it needs to be tackled on a local level.

National opposes this policy because it would effectively take the “local” out of local government. It fails to consider that each region has different needs, different existing infrastructure and future challenges. We would investigate the possibility of co-investment or joint funding partnerships between central government and local councils to fix specific water needs.

Please never hesitate to be in touch if I can be of assistance or if you’d like to let me know your thinking on issues of concern. Just email mpcoromandel@parliament.govt.nz or phone on 0800 550 330.