3 May 2022
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Government's response to working group recommendations on Three Waters reform proposal
Enquiry
I'm working on an article about the government's announcement that they're forging ahead with Three Waters; I'm canvassing how the Rotorua's leaders are reacting to this announcement and what their next steps are in responding to it.
I'd appreciate a response to the below questions from the council, whoever you think is most appropriate to address this. We'd love a response from you by 3:30pm today.
Thanks very much for your time, let me know if there are any questions.
- What’s your reaction to the government’s announcement that they will forge ahead with Three Waters?
- Do you have concerns about the proposal? If so, what are they?
- How do you feel about the fact that local councils will own a stake in these entities? Does it change your opinion in any way?
- Will the council be taking any steps to respond to or give feedback on the proposed plan going forward?
- What feedback has the council had from the community regarding Three Waters?
- What actions has the council taken as a result of this feedback?
Subsequent from reporter following a request to send us the announcement she was referring to so we were clear about what she was seeking comment about:
Sure thing, this one here: LINK
Essentially that the government will be moving forward with the proposed model (co-governance and all) after all the consultation/feedback, with the additional hope to get a requirement for a 75 per cent majority to privatise any of the entities.
Response
We provided the following information and the mayor provided comment:
Please see below from Mayor Chadwick regarding the Government’s response to the Three Waters Working Group’s recommendations to Government on representation, governance and accountability, which is what the Minister’s announcement was about: Council ownership of waters entities confirmed | Beehive.govt.nz
Minister Mahuta has previously (October 2021) confirmed the proposed four-entity model and announced that the Three Waters Reforms will be mandated through legislation, removing any option for councils to opt out. At that time (October 2021) she also announced a working group was being established to consider governance and accountability arrangements for the entities, in response to concerns expressed by councils.
From Mayor Steve Chadwick:
At first glance there are still some unanswered questions and I’m not yet reassured about local input. We need clarity and details around the governance model and what localism and local control looks like, other than shareholdings.
However, we’ve still got to go through and analyse the Government’s response to the working group recommendations against our own initial position and the concerns we expressed, and we need to consider the impact for our community and our district, where three waters infrastructure is such a high priority.
We haven’t yet had the opportunity to do that as a Council to enable us to then consider if our initial position changes and what steps we want to take from there. We will be doing that in the near future.
The Government has been pretty clear all along about its intention to progress the reforms and Rotorua Lakes Council has been part of the discussions from the outset to ensure Rotorua had a voice. As we have previously said, we broadly agree with the drivers for change but saw gaps that needed addressing to strengthen the proposal and uphold the underlying core intentions of the reforms.
Additional references provided to reporter:
Re Rotorua Lakes Council’s initial position – see the link below. Feel free to use information from this:
Sept 2021
Council endorses initial position on Three Waters reform - Rotorua Lakes Council
Below is the link to a statement from October last year following the announcement of the working group to make recommendations to the Government which you can also reference if you wish:
Oct 2021
Government makes Three Waters Reforms announcement - Rotorua Lakes Council