Commenting on the Government’s Three Waters announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“After all the promises of a refocus on Three Waters, a rebrand and more entities fail to hide the fact that the Government’s water reforms remain an asset and power grab.

“Increasing the number of entities quite simply misses the point. Forcibly removing assets from councils undermines the property rights of the ratepayers who have funded them over many decades. There is nothing wrong with sharing water services to drive efficiencies and reduce costs, but shotgun marriages of councils and creating additional tiers of management and bureaucracy simply won’t deliver any savings.

“Three Waters 2.0 is still undemocratic, still unaccountable and still expensive. These changes simply pay lip service to the concerns raised by ratepayers and councils across the country while continuing to push ahead with these ideological reforms using their parliamentary majority.

“Water reform is necessary, but the primary problem that must be addressed is around financing. The Government could make a real difference to councils by giving them a share of GST on new developments or allowing water delivery bodies to issue revenue bonds. All of which can be done with voluntary co-operation between councils and while retaining democratic accountability over investment and charging decisions.”

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