Dear Supporter,
In 2022, I joined the Board of the Taxpayers’ Union to fight Nanaia Mahuta’s plan to confiscate community-owned water assets and put them into ‘co-governed’ Three Waters entities.
And with the Luxon-led Government being elected with such a clear mandate, I thought we had won.
So it gives me no pleasure to give you the bad news. Co-governce of local water is back.
And it rests on you and me to stop it.
The promises could not have been clearer
The National Party went into the 2023 election with a policy of no co-governance for the provision of public services.
In the party’s “Local Water Done Well” policy document (which borrowed much of the policy framework developed by the Taxpayers’ Union) National explicitly ruled out undemocratic co-governance:
At the “Stop Three Waters” public meetings the National Party spokesman for local government (now the Minister) Simon Watts repeated the assurance.
He said:
“National’s alternative to Three Waters will not have co-governance with ratepayer-owned assets remaining under ultimate democratic control.”
In Tauranga – in front of 500 supporters – Watts described it as a 'bottom line':
So you will understand my frustration, to be briefed that Simon Watts has just waved through local “Water Services Delivery Plans” that explicitly include co-governance as part of the new water entities.
Minister Watts is approving models of undemocratic co-governance identical to Mahuta’s original Three Waters
The Taxpayers’ Union have just shared with me a memo from their Local Government Policy Analyst which details the Delivery Plans of one of the new regional water entities.
The memo outlines the Metropolitan Wellington Water Services Delivery Plan: “developed jointly by the five Wellington councils working in partnership with mana whenua partners”.
The plan was approved by the Minister’s officials just before Christmas but was only recently made public.
It is jaw dropping.
Minister Watts is allowing councils to implement literally what he campaigned against just two and a half years ago.
We need to draw attention to what is happening and stop these plans before they are set in stone.
Behind closed doors, Government officials have approved a regional model where a co-governed “Partners’ Committee” sits above the water entity boards.
Rather than being appointed and accountable to democratically elected councillors, the regional water entity board members report to (and are appointed by) the co-governed Partners' Committee.
Worse still, in the case of the Wellington region, a secret Iwi ‘Partnership Agreement’ exists which, according to recently disclosed documents, strips away most of the rights of council “ownership”.
The publicly available “Service Delivery Plan” makes clear that the Iwi Partnership Agreement trumps the entity’s constitution and is binding on the water entity, its shareholder councils, and the Board.
That means, just like Mahuta tried with Three Waters, the concept of council or ratepayer “ownership” becomes a legal fiction.
Judge for yourself
Here are some of the clauses contained in the Regional Delivery Plan that has been approved:
Directors will be required to follow iwi advice on how to protect the "mana" and "spiritual health" of local water
The Delivery Plan locks-in “restoring Te Mana o te Wai” as “the vision” of the water entity. That is very significant. It effectively ties the hands of the directors to further that vision and adhere to requirements to promote the ‘spiritual health’ and mana of the water itself.
Under the environmental law passed by David Parker (which the new Government still hasn't repealed) the meaning of "Te Mana o Te Wai" must be determined by local mana whenua groups, as they are deemed the experts, and it can vary in different tribal areas.
Why we must force the Government to fix this, before it is too late
Let’s not beat around the bush: what is being implemented is the same model as proposed originally by Nanaia Mahuta.
Having water entities operated by a board whose members are appointed by (and report to) a ‘co-governed’ committee, rather than democratically elected councillors, will mean higher water costs and less accountability.
Will you join me in backing a campaign to stop it, before it is too late?
Is this why National are suffering in the polls?
I know there are a lot of supporters of the Government are concerned about the poll numbers and fear a change of government later this year.
But I would argue that the very reason the Nats are doing poorly is precisely because they have not followed through on their mandate for change.
We need them to take action now, before it is too late.
Watering down democratic accountability and introducing co-governance of ratepayer-funded water assets is not a recipe for prosperity.
This campaign needs to be about forcing Minister Watts to hold true to the National Party’s own policy and force the councils to ‘have another go’ at water plans that are, in effect, just a regurgitated Three Waters.
Are you with me? 👉 Support the campaign to protect democratic accountability of local water assets.
Thank you for your support.
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PS. Protecting democratic accountability should never be traded away on the basis of some bad polls or electoral politics.
PPS. Once implemented, co-governance is very hard to unwind. That’s why your support is needed now to ensure the Taxpayers’ Union has the policy heft and the campaign resources so it can fight those who have captured Simon Watts into accepting what he thinks is the ‘easy’ option. Please click here to make a donation.