The Government’s water reforms

I am extremely suspicious of the Government’s proposed water reforms. I can understand the desire of the Government to have everybody in New Zealand all having access to clean water. That is a given. I can understand the Government being hacked off with underinvestment in infrastructure. That’s what led to this sort of nonsense in Wellington.

You know what this is a result of? It’s Councillors not managing their infrastructure properly. They are often the sort of Councillor who will promote stupid policies like zero rates.

In Christchurch the Council has always invested properly in infrastructure. When I was at the Council, we carefully assessed all of our water infrastructure and invested where it was in need of resourcing. That’s why this graph which was published recently which shows that Christchurch City Council’s wastewater pipelines are assessed as “highly reliable”. We should be proud of this and resist being bullied by Central Government, and WaterNZ.

Here’s the graph:

What makes me very nervous is what was in Grant Robertson’s budget speech this week. In a Newsroom article it was reported:

Now, Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced a new, once-in-a-generation review of local government – and has gained Cabinet agreement to begin by returning water infrastructure to central government control.

Robertson told the House the four professionally-run entities would “effectively, equitably and efficiently manage water infrastructure and provide New Zealanders with safe supply wherever they live”.

“The Government is committed to water remaining in public ownership, with local authorities, communities, iwi and others playing a central role.”

I found this very interesting. I could be wrong, but I think the Government might be rewriting history. I don’t think they have ever controlled water. I know that there is debate in India about the Government controlling water centrally. That makes sense to me. But are we at the same level of disastrous water systems as India?

What is it about the desire of this Government to control everything? I admire Nanaia Mahuta. I think she has a wonderful analysis and has grown greatly in stature since she has become a Cabinet Minister. I really admire the powerful Maori lens she applies to decision making. Which makes me suspicious of who precisely is driving this strange centralisation agenda. In a Kaupapa Maori approach water would be treated as a local, and special, matter.

The issue is that many authorities have neglected their water responsibilities. But Christchurch and Auckland have not. I would challenge why Christchurch needs to join this misguided drive. Is the Government going to make this compulsory? What role will Iwi have with whatever structure is being put in place? Could CCC and Ngai Tahu work together to resist this drive toward central control?