Simeon Brown not considering observers for Wellington councils, promises Three Waters repeal soon

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said he was not considering appointing commissioners or observers to Wellington City or Upper Hutt City councils in the wake of water crises in both cities and the wider region.

Brown met with Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau and Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy on Monday to discuss the water crisis. Brown said it was not his “focus” to appoint an observer.

“My focus is on ensuring that at this stage Wellington City Council and Upper Hutt City Council are taking their responsibilities around water service delivery seriously. There is significant leakage from their pipes and I want to have assurances that everything is being done to avoid a water emergency here in Wellington,” Brown said.

Whanau told RNZ the meeting was “very constructive and positive”, but warned fixing Wellington’s pipes would take decades.

The Government is on the verge of repealing Labour’s Three Waters legislation and replacing it with its own. The Government promised to introduce legislation to repeal the former government’s Three Waters work in its 100-day plan, although it did not commit to passing that legislation within the first 100 days.

Brown said there would be further announcements on this next month.

Labour’s Three Waters model would have lifted three waters assets and costs off councils’ main balance sheets, allowing its new Three Waters entities to invest more in water infrastructure without the encumbrance of council debt caps.

Councils had been preparing for this and factored it into their long-term plans. Brown said he had written to councils in December, outlining the “flexibility” he would offer them to reflect the change of regime.

“We wrote to councils prior to Christmas with the policy positions that will be part of that bill: the repealing of it, some flexibility around the setting of their long-term plans, the timeframes around it, flexibility around the consultation requirements, and also around the auditing requirements,” he said.

This is likely to be welcomed. Cash-strapped councils are already under the pump to produce and consult on their long-term plans.

Brown said the new government’s model for addressing the Three Waters crisis was Local Water Done Well.

This would force councils to ring-fence funding for water spending, and allow councils to form Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) to deliver water services.

National’s election policy says councils will have to present a plan for how they will meet the new government’s new water quality and investment standards within a year of it repealing the former government’s water legislation.

National’s election policy promised that “[within] a year of repealing the Water Services Entities Act, councils will need to deliver a plan for how they will transition their water services to a new model that meets water quality and infrastructure investment rules, while being financially sustainable in the long-term.

“The Minister of Local Government will sign off councils’ proposals once satisfied they meet these requirements. National will not mandate any specific model for water services onto council,” the policy said.

Brown said the new plan would ensure “councils have more tools around financial sustainability”.

“There will be some changes to the CCO model. We’re currently working through the policy decisions on that and we’ll have more to announce, I think in March.”

He said the new legislation would help councils to “set up regional CCOs … to have financially sustainable water models, make sure their revenue from water is ring-fenced [and] going back into water infrastructure”.

Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.