A public shareholding structure to maintain public ownership of water assets is being recommended by the Three Waters Working Group on Representation, Governance and Accountability, which has delivered its report to Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta.

The independent group of Council and Iwi representatives was established to identify improvements to the governance and accountability arrangements of the proposed new Water Services Entities to manage drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services.
 
Chair Doug Martin says the Working Group unanimously endorsed the principle of Te Mana o Te Wai – ensuring the health and wellbeing of all our waters – as the underlying principle of the reforms.
 
“The health and wellbeing of people and communities depends on the health and wellbeing of water.  Te Mana o Te Wai puts the health of our waterways at the heart of all decisions made by the new Water Services Entities.”
 
A key recommendation of the Working Group is a public shareholding model that would clarify ownership of water assets, with Councils owning all the shares in the new Water Services Entities on behalf of their communities.
 
“A major concern we heard from our communities, iwi and hapū was about the privatisation of New Zealand’s water services.  The public shareholding model will strengthen protections against privatisation requiring unanimous shareholder approval for any such proposal.”
 
This adds another layer of protection to those protections already contained in the draft legislation.
 
Ensuring that local voice continues to inform and determine how Water Services are managed was a key priority for the Working Group.  To that end the Working Group has recommended the establishment of sub-groups that will ensure local voices are always considered in investment prioritisation.
 
“We have proposed mechanisms to achieve tighter accountability from the Water Service Entity boards to the Regional Representative Groups with RRGs approving the strategic direction for the entities, and for the board to be answerable to the RRG and communities for its performance”.
 
“We have also recommended the establishment of a Water Ombudsman to oversee Water Service Entities’ interactions with water users.”
 
Mr Martin says the Working Group supports the co-governance model for the Regional Representative Groups and Sub-groups and consensus decision-making, which will create enduring decisions that provide better community outcomes.
 
He says the Working Group has gone through a robust, transparent process to reach these recommendations – and has been clear about a dissenting view from Mayor Phil Goff with respect to Auckland’s position, which is included in the report.
 
“We received an overwhelming message from the sector that the status quo isn’t working, and reform is needed.
 
“We are proposing a model that places our waters and the health of our communities at the centre of all decision making, it retains public ownership and ensures local representation.”
 
Mr Martin acknowledged the significant contribution of Local Councils, Iwi, and water sector stakeholders to the reforms – one of the largest public transformation programmes in decades.
 
“We must not underestimate the scale of the reforms and urge the Government to do a better job of communicating and engaging with New Zealanders about the reforms.”

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