“Labour’s wildly unpopular Three Waters programme has turned into a consultant’s banquet, with more than $26 million spent on consultants and contractors as at 31 May 2022,” says ACT’s Local Government spokesperson Simon Court.

“This is an extraordinary amount of money for an appalling policy. Labour should stop wasting taxpayers’ money trying to force it upon Kiwis and scrap it.

“Councils and ratepayers are rejecting Three Waters because central government is barging in and taking control of their assets but Labour is bulldozing through all opposition.

“Instead of listening to the people and backing down, Labour is shovelling more and more taxpayer cash onto the trash fire that is Three Waters. Let’s not forget the taxpayer-funded $2 billion bribe they’ve already doled out to councils.

“Its little wonder domestic inflation is so high with examples of Government waste like this. People are squeezed from every direction and the Government shouldn’t be wasting millions trying to push through their pet project policies.

“Any Government ACT is a part of will repeal Three Waters. ACT’s alternative Water Infrastructure Plan would allow community control of water assets and improve the necessary infrastructure to ensure safety and efficient water allocation.

“ACT has proposed local councils receive a payment equivalent to 50 per cent of the GST for every new dwelling constructed in its territory. This provides an incentive for councils to enable building and a means of covering infrastructure costs.

“ACT is showing there is a better way, Labour should take notice before they waste millions more on a policy that is fundamentally flawed.”

ACT’s Water Infrastructure Plan would:

• Provide for councils to enter into voluntary “shared services” agreements, gaining the benefits of scale, while retaining local ownership and control
• Establish long term 30-year Central Government-Local Government Partnership agreements to plan water infrastructure upgrades tailored to specific regions
• Establish a Public-Private Partnerships (through our proposed Nation Building Agency) to attract investment from financial entities such as KiwiSaver funds, ACC, iwi investment funds, etc
• Expand the exemption from domestic supply for a single dwelling to also include all small water suppliers sup plying fewer than 30 endpoint users.

Link to the written parliamentary question here.

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