3 waters

David Farrar quoting an article from Stephen Joyce (you need Ferald sub to see original article)
www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2022/06/joyce_on_three_waters.html

Brother went to 3 waters meeting at the Mount last night, Big turnout, ACT and 2 Nat MP's organised by Jordan Williams and Taxpayer Union. 2 interesting points came out of his attendance. First was apparently Anne Tolley,Chair of Tauranga's commissioners wrote to govt saying that Tauranga ratepayers wanted no part of 3 waters from the feedback commissioners had received and then she hand wrote on bottom of letter ,'just do it'.So much for democracy more like dictatorship ?. Second interesting point ,not connected to 3 waters, was from a regional Councillor as he left the meeting. Port of Tauranga is applying to Environment Court for consent to extend the Port (by 200 m). Maori have asked for $200m plus 4 seats on the Board. This is NZ 2022. Can you believe this crap. Brothers Grimm couldn't write fairy storys like this but the Sisters Grimm are doing it to us daily

from Kiwiblog uncovering another layer of the scam to give the Mahuta clan control of the waters

Three Waters is more than co-governance
Much of the focus around Three Waters has been the co-governance of the regional entities that effectively will appoint the boards of the four proposed water companies. But Graham Adams reports there is more to it than that:

According to Cranmer’s analysis, a direct and unbreakable chain of command flows from the Māori Advisory Group via Taumata Arowai to control the four new Water Services Entities (WSEs).

The WSEs control the day-to-day management of the operations of Three Waters. We have been repeatedly told they will be completely independent, working at arm’s length from the higher echelons of the complicated water bureaucracy.

However, it is made clear in legislation that the water regulator Taumata Arowai has to jump when the Māori Advisory Group says jump. When it — and Tipa as chairperson — speaks, Taumata Arowai has a statutory obligation to listen and act on that advice.

And the clincher is that Taumata Arowai directly regulates the Water Services Entities. In short, if Tipa Mahuta chooses, she can — as chair of the Māori Advisory Group — call the shots throughout each level of water management.

So the Minister’s sister is appointed to chair a group that the industry regulator must pay heed to.

And what role or powers does the Māori Advisory Group have? It has statutory powers to advise the board of Taumata Arowai on Māori interests and, per s17(3) [of Taumata Arowai — the Water Services Regulator Act], the board must have regard for that advice and must demonstrate in its annual report how it’s had regard.

So the board of Taumata Arowai ignores Tipa at its peril. And good luck to the Water Services Entities if they don’t comply with its regulator, Taumata Arowai.

And, anyway, if Tipa isn’t getting her way, she can always call her sister, the Minister of Local Government.

The above is a quote from Thomas Cranmer on Twitter. The statutory direction to the regulator that it must follow or have regard to the advice from he Maori Advisory Group, and demonstrate that it has done so gives immense power to the group – chaired by the Minister’s sister.

For instance, the Water Services Entities Bill, introduced by Mahuta in early June, gives mana whenua whose territory includes “a freshwater body in the service area of a Water Services Entity” the right to provide that entity with “a Te Mana o te Wai statement for water services”.

This statement can be provided “by an individual iwi or hapū, or by a group of iwi or hapū”. It can be summarily ditched and a new statement provided at any time.

So the water companies must follow the statements prepared by Iwi, and if they don’t:

So there is no ‘co-governance’ at the operating level. [But] WSEs need to follow Te Mana o te Wai statements prepared by iwi — and the regulator charged with ensuring compliance is the minister’s sister, Tipa.

These are issues worthy of debate.

today is the last day to make submissions to the select committee rubber stamping considering the 3 Waters Bill.
If you have time/inclination you can make a submission using the Taxpayer's Union tool

www.stopthreewaters.nz/submission

or via the Parliament portal

www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/53SCFE_SCF_BILL_124081/water-services-entities-bill

received this email yesterday from Simon Watts of the Nats (no idea how I got on their mailing list)

Labour just isn't listening on Three Waters.

Thank you for your support in the fight against Labour’s Three Waters reforms. I’m writing with a quick update on the campaign. I’ll be doing these regularly from now on – I hope you enjoy them!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks with the submissions on the Water Services Entities Bill now closed. I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to submit through the National Party website; we collected and delivered over 16,000 submissions, and the Select Committee received over 88,000 submissions.

The message from this is clear. Kiwis overwhelmingly reject Three Waters.

________________________________________

88,324 submissions, and Labour still isn’t listening

Labour doesn’t care what the public has to say and will rush through Three Waters despite intense opposition.

I moved that the Select Committee should take extra time in light of the huge number of submissions received on the Bill, but despite all other political parties on the committee agreeing with me, Labour used its absolute majority to block it.

Labour also used its majority to prevent most of the people and organisations who asked to make an oral submission via submissions collected by National from doing so.

Over 1000 of you asked to speak to your submission in person, and you should be able to.

It is clear that thousands of Kiwis oppose this reform but Labour has doubled down by pushing it through Parliament as quickly as possible. Labour cares more about getting the Three Waters reforms out of the public eye than listening to the legitimate concerns of New Zealanders and hearing what you have to say about it.

________________________________________

Questioning Nanaia Mahuta in Parliament

When the Prime Minister spoke at the Local Government New Zealand conference, she promised councils that under her watch, there would be no more reforms unless they were sought and their direction was agreed on. However, it seems her Minister for Local Government didn’t get the memo and made Three Waters compulsory, giving councils no option but to hand over their water assets to unaccountable mega entities.

Labour has piled Local Government with reforms they haven’t asked for, Nanaia Mahuta should listen to the Prime Minister and stop the reforms councils oppose.

Watch here:



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Three Waters spending is through the roof

Kiwi taxpayers are paying the price for these reforms with more than $26m spent on consultants alone. These costs are increasing by more than $1 million a month. At the end of February, the amount spent was $21 million. At the end of May, it was $26 million, and every month Labour burns more cash trying to figure out and sell these reforms that won’t work.

While all this money is being paid out to consultants in Wellington, not a single meter of pipe has been delivered to communities in need. Labour simply can’t deliver.

Instead, Labour is addicted to spending and burning through cash on Three Waters like there’s no tomorrow. On top of consultant costs, it has spent $2.5 in bribes to councils to try to convince them to support Three Waters.

Meanwhile, I uncovered that they don’t know how much the IST transition to their new entities will cost but that it could be over $500 million.

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Speaking at LGNZ

I spoke at at this year’s LGNZ conference where I set out the fundamental principles that will guide National’s Three Waters reforms.

Labour doesn’t care what local councils think and is more than happy to lay the blame for problems at their feet, but National knows the solutions to all our problems can’t be found in Wellington. Only by partnering with Local Government can we solve the real issues around Three Waters.

Our model will:

• maintain local ownership of water assets and respect local property rights.

• provide tools for asset owners to achieve sustainable financing and revenue adequacy.

• provide a regulatory backstop for incentive management and water quality within an efficient and effective regulatory environment.

• safeguard against privatisation.

• respect the role of mana whenua, but not introduce co-governance of water assets.

• provide a financial assistance regime for districts that need it and assistance with transitions to sustainable models.

The fight against Three Waters has just begun, and National will fight the government every step of the way to stop these broken reforms from going through.

If you haven’t already, please sign our petition to stop Three Waters

Regards,

Simon Watts | Spokesperson for Local Government

Wow!!!... From the tax payer union lawyers...


"Last week we released an explosive Legal Opinion completed by Franks Ogilvie and reviewed by Gary Judd QC on the Government's reassurances that under Nanaia Mahuta's Three Waters, local communities and councils will still 'own' shares in the new water entities.

The lawyers don't mince words in their assessment of the situation stating: “Ministers appear to have cold-bloodedly decided to confuse Councils and ratepayers with false statements.” It's a searing condemnation of how the Government, and its advisors, have intentionally misled New Zealanders. They say the claims have been "calculated to deceive Parliamentarians, and when it becomes law, to deceive New Zealanders generally".

Gary Judd QC comments in his review of the legal opinion: “When all the lying statements are put together, as [the] opinion does, the government’s effrontery is breath-taking.”


It's clear that the Government realised that it could not convince New Zealanders that handing over ownership of local assets was a good idea. So instead Ministers have set out to redefine the meaning of the word ‘ownership’ to hoodwink Kiwis."