Ngāi Tahu argues for Three Waters co-governance in Parliament

Three Waters reform legislation is winging its way through Parliament. Photo / Stephen Parker

Ngāi Tahu, the iwi whose takiwā takes in most of the South Island, made a spirited defence of co-governance on Three Waters reforms, pointing out that Māori assets have historically been seized by governments - including for use as council water infrastructure.

Dr Te Maire Tau, submitting to a select committee on the bill, said his iwi was not seeking co-ownership of Three Waters assets, which, under the reforms, will be owned by councils.

"Ngāi Tahu has made it clear throughout - we are not claiming ownership and we believe these assets should remain in the public ownership," Tau said.

"What is not made clear by some parties is that a good deal of Crown and local government infrastructure is underpinned by Crown legislation which allowed the acquisition and confiscation of Māori land for public infrastructure.

Tau cited the example of the confiscation of Ngāi Tahu land in the 1950s to build Christchurch's sewerage ponds.

"The Christchurch sewerage ponds is fundamentally located on land that our people owned and taken in 1956 under the Public Works Act," Tau said, noting the land was confiscated at well below its appropriate value.

"Now, what that really means is that the tribe quite often and for tribes throughout the country is our land is used for public assets," Tau said.

"We do not think it is unreasonable for these reasons that Māori are involved in co-governance in Three Waters because we have to look after our basic assets and no one has cared for them," he said.

Tau said the issue of "democracy" had been raised in connection with Three Waters. Democracy is often raised to point out that Māori will have a greater say in the running of the future Three Waters entities than other New Zealanders.

Ngāi Tahu supported co-governance reforms. Members of Ngāi Tahu are pictured supporting the passage of a local bill earlier this year. Photo / NZ Parliament

He gave a genealogy of democracy that descended, not from Ancient Greece, as is often the case in histories of democracy, but from Westminster in England.

Tau defined democracy as "the rule of law that comes out of the Westminster system for the toleration of all peoples".

"Legislation from the Westminster system is there to protect everyone … this has clearly not happened in the 19th century or the 20th century," he said, highlighting the fact that the confiscation of land in those centuries did not affect all people equally.

Some councils offer support - with strings attached

The committee heard from mayors who were broadly supportive of the reforms, but nevertheless raised concerns.

The Government's Three Waters reform programme will take water assets like pipes and reservoirs from 67 councils and amalgamate them into one of four massive water entities.
The councils will own these entities through a shareholding but will co-govern them with Māori.

Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins told the committee he supported "many of the reforms key objectives", but his council was "unconvinced" the Government's proposed model was "the best way of achieving those".

Hawkins said a major concern was that "so much of the detail is still missing".

"This still very much feels like we're in a shadow boxing scenario. We're being asked to take a view on how these entities will be set up without knowing enough about how they will work in practice," he said.

Hawkins said the bill did not address the "core issues" that need to be answered, including how the entities would charge people or councils for their services and how those charges would be regulated.

"Council's view is the reform process should be put on ice until we can more thoroughly consider alternatives," Hawkins said, adding it was "hard not to be cynical" about the process given the Government had begun advertising for chief executives of the new entities before the legislation has even had its second reading.

Hawkins proposed the Government consider taking a more local approach, giving councils more say in how the entities were run. He also proposed the Government pause the current bill until the introduction of a second bill, that will create a new economic regulator that will look after the way the new entities charge for their services.

He said the bills should be considered at the same time, given the way one influences the other.

Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Porirua mayor Anita Baker also submitted on the bill.

Baker said her council was overall supportive of the reform programme, but it nevertheless had issues.

Porirua council's chief executive Wendy Walker said that taking water debt from the council would leave its debt burden lighter, but Three Waters would also mean the council had fewer assets.

This raised the spectre of council amalgamation because after the Three Waters reforms councils would be far smaller in terms of what they did.

Walker said her "personal view" was that it made the council a less viable proposition.

"It doesn't really make us a viable proposition for the future [that's my] personal view," Walker said.

Baker added: "if you take water away, there's not a lot left. There's roading."

"Quite simply we've reached the end of our borrowing. We can't borrow enough to fix our pipes," she said.

Michael Ford, the deputy mayor of Manawatū District Council, said the council supported "reform" and "regulation" but took umbrage at the way the council and local government more generally had been painted by the Government.

He said the council was "unanimously opposed" to the Government's proposal.

Ford said he was concerned about the loss of local government "decision-making" as opposed to simply having a "voice" on the reforms.

Ford said that proposed developments in his region would not be treated with he same urgency by a water company based in Wellington as they would be under the current arrangement under which the council handles Three Waters directly.

He cited an example of the council relaxing a wastewater charge to attract a business to the region, which led to the employment of 300 people.