John MacDonald: Government’s Three Waters reforms still a dog’s breakfast

No entrenchment, but the Government’s Three Waters reforms are still a dog’s breakfast, columnist John MacDonald says. Photo / NZME

OPINION

So there’ll be no entrenchment, but the Government’s Three Waters reforms are still a dog’s breakfast.

Three Waters being stormwater, wastewater and drinking water which, at the moment, local councils are responsible for.

But the Government thinks they aren’t up to the job and wants to set up four new water authorities to take over.

And yesterday, Labour MPs had the numbers in Parliament to get the first legislation required to establish these new authorities through its third reading without the Greens and without the Māori Party. The Greens pulled the plug because they don’t think the legislation goes far enough to prevent the privatisation of water supplies.

This means Three Waters is a done deal and we are on the way to having four new water authorities in charge of stormwater, wastewater and drinking water around the country.

There are two other bills yet to go through, but this is the one that had to pass first for everything else to happen. So, as far as the Government is concerned, with the water authorities happening, the whole thing’s happening. Because, as we saw yesterday, Labour’s got the numbers in Parliament - it’s got the majority - and it can do what it likes.

And yesterday, the Labour MPs all followed instructions and voted en-masse and Three Waters is a goer.

You may have heard Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon on Newstalk ZB. He, of course, was one of three mayors who banded together last month to present an alternative Three Waters model to the Government. The other two were Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger and Auckland mayor Wayne Brown.

They said at the time that it wasn’t about them working against the Government, but wanting to work with it.

But it’s obvious, isn’t it, that the Government just said “yeah nah” - despite the Prime Minister saying at the time that the Government was “open to change”.

Dan Gordon said the Government doesn’t have a mandate for what it’s doing because it won the last election on the back of the Covid pandemic. He said it didn’t win the election because people were in love with its water reforms.

And even though the bill got through yesterday, Dan Gordon says the fact it was only Labour MPs who voted for it shows how much opposition there is to it. And he’s not giving up.

Listening to Dan, it seems that his attention is now going to be away from the Government and on to National and Act. Because he wants to make sure they don’t stray from their commitments to repeal and replace the Three Waters legislation if they become government.

And so, on the basis of that, he doesn’t think the fight is over. But it sounded to me like he’s thrown his hands in the air when it comes to dealing with the current Government, and who could blame him?

He said: “It’s hugely disappointing that the Government has arrogantly pushed forward with this unpopular reform.

“There’s a better way, one that would have achieved consensus, and we were open and willing to sit down with the Government.”

He says he hears from people every day, who tell him that they are brassed off that the Government thinks locals having control over their assets isn’t the way to go. And that four new water authorities are going to be the game-changer.

In case you’ve forgotten, by the way, why was it that the Government thought we needed a game-changer in the first place? It was because of the issue in Hawke’s Bay back in 2016 when four people died and 5000 people got crook because the water supply was contaminated.

That, as far as Labour is concerned, was enough of a reason to throw everything into the air. Although, over time it has come up with other excuses as well. Some of which have some credence.

Such as the struggle some really small councils have to keep on top of things with their water infrastructure because they don’t have the population to generate the rates revenue that’s needed to run wastewater, stormwater and drinking water services.

But that’s not the case everywhere. In fact, in most parts of the country, it’s not the case. And despite huge opposition, the Government still wants to completely change the way wastewater, stormwater and drinking water services are run in this country. And it appears that nothing is going to stop it.