What's happening with Three Waters?

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24 Apr, 2023

 

Kaipara’s deputy mayor, ‘Workboot Councillor’ Jonathan Larsen, has been keeping a watchful eye on the revamp of Three Waters, meeting with government officials in mid-April to get the lowdown on the controversial reforms.

 

BY CR JONATHAN LARSEN

 

OPINION

M first meeting was with Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty (Nanaia Mahuta’s replacement) who Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has tasked with having another look at the reforms and to report back with any suggested changes. I told minister McAnulty that unless the divisive co-governance structure is removed, they are never going to get the New Zealand public on board.

The second meeting was with the newly appointed CEO of the water services for Northland and Auckland (Entity A), John Lamonte. I asked him to confirm what the proposed governance structure is as the proposals currently stand. He confirmed that the governance body will consist of eight appointed Maori members and eight elected councillor members with one or two from Kaipara. In short that’s one or two people from Kaipara on a board of 16 overseeing our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater needs, with eight of them not being democratically elected, appointed on the basis of racial ancestry and unable to be voted out.

I also asked Mr Lamonte if the charges that Entity A would issue for the services would be secured against or recoverable from the ratepayers’ properties. He suggested that this wouldn’t be the case.

A quick search of the Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill leads one to s.143 Recovery of fees and other money, which states:

‘(1) All fees and other money payable to the Crown under this Act or the regulations, or under any permit granted under this Act, is recoverable as money due to the Crown and, without limiting any other method of recovery, may be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due to the Crown.’

In effect it appears that the Water Services Entity will have similar powers to Councils under the Local Government (Rating) Act. They will be able to fund grandiose water schemes and then ultimately recover the resultant service charges from property owners if necessary, by selling them up – and there will be no democratic means available for local ratepayers to remove most of the decision-makers.

The other horror lurking below the surface of the Three Waters legislation is ‘Te Mana o Te Wai’ statements. These are edicts that can only be issued by Maori iwi and hapu and take effect at the operational level. They are able to include anything including promotion of Maori employment and environmental protection, spiritual concerns and decisions on investments. The statements will effectively give control of water as well as land use and planning regulations and rules only to Maori. They will be applied to all bodies of fresh water, streams, rivers, pipes etc. on both public and private land.

 

Government puts a stake in the ground

I attended another meeting on April 13 with minister McAnulty prior to the government announcement on amendments to the Three Waters reforms. In short, the amendments (and lack of amendments) are:

• The number of water service entities is to increase from four to ten.

• The controversial co-governance arrangements remain in place.

• Te Mana o Te Wai (TMOTW) statements remain unchanged.

• Rural groups can make some form of statement alongside TMOTW statements.

• Implementation is being pushed out to 2026.

• Government intends pushing the amendments and other legislation into law before the general election.

In effect, not much material change is proposed and government is well and truly putting a stake in the ground by forcing it all through before the election.

It will now be up to the New Zealand public to signal their support for, or opposition to, the proposals in the general election in October.

 

Government withdraws $1.5 billion Three Waters sweetener

At the April 13 Three Waters reforms amendment announcement (now called “Affordable water reforms) no mention was made of government's withdrawal of a promised $1.5 billion ‘better off’ funding package that was to be distributed to Council's from July 2024 (after the general election). Some saw it as a sweetener for the loss of control and ownership of Councils' water assets. Some referred to it as an election bribe.

However, it has now emerged that this funding has been cancelled. In Kaipara's case $4.2 million (tranche 1) was received last year and is being used to design and consent two Community Hubs (libraries but multi-use space which includes meeting rooms for the community to use), one in Dargaville and one in Mangawhai. The $12 million tranche 2 payment to build the hubs will now not be received.

 

At the April 13 Three Waters reforms amendment announcement (now called ‘Affordable water reforms’) no mention was made of government's withdrawal of a promised $1.5 billion ‘better off’ funding package that was to be distributed to Council's from July 2024 (after the general election). Some saw the better off funding as a sweetener for the loss of control and ownership of Councils' water assets. Some referred to it as an election bribe. Ultimately the intention of government was to use this funding as one of its mechanisms to force co-governance decision-making onto Councils.

However, it has now emerged that this funding has been cancelled. In Kaipara's case $4.04 million (tranche 1) was granted last year to be used to design and consent two Community Hubs (libraries but multi-use space which includes meeting rooms for the community to use), one in Dargaville and one in Mangawhai. Council is currently in the process of interviewing shortlisted applicants for the role of project manager with the project scheduled for kick-off in the coming weeks. The $12 million tranche 2 payment to build the hubs will now not be received creating considerable uncertainty for the projects going forward.

The current budgeted amounts in the Long Term Plan will be reviewed, with options and recommendations being presented to Council. Council will be working with the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) to understand future impacts on the programme.

n The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the consensus position of Council.
 

FURTHER READING: The government summary of the proposed changes is at waterservicesreform.govt.nz. An excellent article on the perils of Te Mana o Te Wai statements, by Graham Adams, is available at commonroomnz.com

SOURCE: waterservicesreform.govt.nz

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