MPs battle over water reform

Significant changes await the Government’s Three Waters reforms, after politicians sorted through more than 80,000 submissions about the bill.

But the Opposition says these changes won’t go far enough.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has ‘‘welcomed’’ a series of proposed amendments from Parliament’s finance and expenditure select committee, for her Water Services Entities Bill.

Although every party agreed the bill needed changes, they were unable to reach consensus about what those changes should be. The Labour majority, Green, ACT and National parties all filed differing recommendations.

The majority did not make any recommendations about co-governance. As it stands, the bill will establish representative boards encompassing council appointees and iwi appointees. Many iwi, through Treaty settlements, already have responsibilities to collaborate with councils to improve freshwater quality.

These representative groups will not be responsible for the day-to-day operation of water infrastructure. Instead, they will appoint board members to the water management bodies – who should be appointed based on expertise.

The select committee, backed by its Labour member majority, said the bill should require that each water entity hold annual shareholder meetings with councils, introduce greater audit scrutiny, and require a mix of regional and urban representatives of the regional representative groups.

The bill aims to bring the country’s water infrastructure together, creating new water management entities to take responsibility for providing stormwater, drinking water and wastewater services.

‘‘We are committed to ensuring everyone’s drinking water is clean, boil water notices are minimised, sewage leaks get fixed, and pipes are in the ground to help build new homes, in the most costeffective way possible,’’ Mahuta said, in a statement issued yesterday.

She, and Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern, had been preparing for the select committee recommendations to land this week, indicating earlier they were open to making significant changes to the bill.

National and ACT MPs promptly criticised the Labour majority’s recommendations. National Party MP and local government spokesperson Simon Watts said the select committee should have held off making its recommendations to consider the alternative proposal of Auckland mayor Wayne Brown and Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon.

‘‘The Government is intent on ploughing ahead with its highly centralised, cogoverned mega-entities,’’ he said.

ACT MP and local government spokesperson Simon Court said Government MPs were ‘‘continuing to bulldoze’’ through with Three Waters. His particular concern was with the continuation of co-governance arrangements in the bill.

Court said water reform should be optin for councils, giving them an option to enter ‘‘shared service’’ agreements. The Green Party also had concerns. While it supported change, it said councils should maintain ‘‘real ownership of water assets and infrastructure’’.

Now that the select committee’s report on the Water Services Entities Bill has been filed, Parliament will be able to debate the various recommendations.

Mahuta said she supported the proposal to require shareholder meetings and ensure a rural-urban mix on the representation boards. She said she also wanted to see more accountability measures in the legislation.

‘‘The Government is intent on ploughing ahead with its highly centralised, co-governed mega-entities.’’

Simon Watts National Party MP