The minister in charge of the government’s three waters overhaul has admitted there was difficulty getting the public onboard with the so-called “co-governance” aspect of the original plan.
It was confirmed yesterday that the water infrastructure plans would be moving ahead but with some substantial changes. There will be now be 10 regional water entities, instead of four. And local councils will now have more control over what actually happens with their own water supplies. You can read about all the changes in The Bulletin today.
One aspect of the original plan that has remained seemingly unchanged happens to one of the most controversial: co-governance. The prime minister wouldn’t admit that, saying it wasn’t actually co-governance (something opposition parties are not convinced of this).
Speaking to Newshub’s AM, Kieran McAnulty, the local government minister, said there was never any question of it staying part of the proposal – but the public needed to be brought onboard.
“Māori have a special interest in water and that’s been established by the courts – I wasn’t prepared to put anything up that would be counter to that,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I was confident that if we actually explain what it is we’re proposing – accepting that our explanation previously wasn’t effective and that people found out that it wasn’t actually governance, that it was very similar to what’s happening in the local government sector on a day-to-day basis – then, really, New Zealanders would be comfortable with it.”
McAnulty said the government could prove that the new plan would save people money, but the National Party did not have a plan yet. “There’s not a single ratepayer in the country that will pay more, long term, as a result of these reforms,” he said.
Not all local councils are onboard just yet. McAnulty said he was never expecting to win everyone over immediately, but “I did hope I would be able to get the majority onboard”.