Clutha District Council Position Statement: Three-Waters Reform

For some time Clutha District Council, along with all councils in New Zealand, has been involved in the exhaustive due diligence process that was required to fulfil our obligations under the Three Waters reform process. This process required us to present feedback to the Minister by 30th September 2021 including:

A complete assessment of our present Three Waters infrastructure, and the known requirements into the future.

Gaining an understanding of the proposed reform process and the Entity structures.

Preparing to engage with our communities to formulate our district’s stance together by the end of 2021.

However, on the 27th of October the Minister for Local Government Hon. Nanaia Mahuta announced the Government’s intention to mandate the reform process from here. We are infuriated by this change which has denied our right to self-determination and the ability to conduct meaningful engagement with our ratepayers.

Before October 27th Clutha District Council had invested considerable resources to the process and were well placed to have the much-needed conversations with our communities. Our strong financial position gave us the opportunity to genuinely consider whether to remain in the Entity or to opt out and go it alone. The Minister’s actions mean that especially for our urban communities most of our options are now redundant.

So where to from here?

Councils now have a short window of opportunity to give feedback and make suggestions to the three working groups established to give critical feedback to the Government on specific issues regarding these reforms. While the situation is time critical and there are no guaranteed outcomes, Clutha District Council believes these working groups provide the best avenues for constructive input.

Three Waters reform is part of a larger raft of reforms including Resource Management Act (RMA), and Future for Local Government, and it is imperative we see the wider implications, dangers, and opportunities for us. We believe it is important that our ratepayers are aware of the issues we face and our reasoning for any actions.

Our Council intends to continue to act in a constructive manner and to strive to promote Clutha’s best interests. We are confident that our tactical decision to refrain from adopting a confrontational position has proven advantageous to us.

We played a successful part in the establishment of the new working group to consider rural water schemes issues. This has enabled us to remain at the table and continue to work for the benefit of Clutha. We acknowledge that the negotiations that lie ahead will be difficult, especially considering the natural power imbalance that exists between Central and Local Government. However, we have an obligation to strive to negotiate the best possible outcomes for our communities.

We believe our future ability to instigate change is best served by strengthening the arguments the working parties can present on our collective behalf. Therefore it is imperative we remain engaged in the process and understand what is at stake and what we can realistically expect.

The three working groups are focussing on:

1. Governance and structures under the new Entities

2. Wider implications and integration of all the reforms currently under consideration

3. Rural water schemes

We will be advocating for:

1. Governance and structures

• A strong representational voice with the ability to exert more influence on the Entity.
• A determination to ensure that structures accommodate all districts’ needs, and are not dominated by the larger metropolitan areas or fast-growing areas to the detriment of smaller rural areas.
• No differential in pricing is allowed: the cost of a unit of water, or a sewerage rate, is the same across all consumers in the Entity.

2. Wider implications and integration of all the reforms currently under consideration

• A clearer sequencing and interconnecting of the collective process to ensure the unintended consequence is not amalgamation by stealth.
• With such an overwhelming amount of reform proposed, and having already seen the undesirable impact of a vacuum of information on Three Waters discussions in the public arena, what steps should be taken to ensure greater transparency and engagement across the board.

3. Rural water schemes

This issue is the most crucial for Clutha and will require careful consideration. We successfully invited Bill Bayfield the CEO of the new water regulator Taumata Arowai and Allan Prangnell from the Department of Internal Affairs to tour our district’s extensive rural water scheme network and were able to provide some additional critical local knowledge. This fed directly into the establishment of this working group and we will continue to build on this momentum.

Early indications are that the working group may deliberate on the rural water schemes in the first quarter of 2022. To present our strongest and most considered stance we must first establish our position.

To achieve this we have initiated work to establish the legal and practical ramifications, and to give advice on options and implications. We will then seek input from the governing bodies of our rural water schemes, and then formulate our input into the working group’s deliberations.

Mis-information has not helped the process to-date but we hope that by outlining the position we all find ourselves in and our intended course of action, you can be confident that we shall continue to strive to be transparent and honest as we work to achieve the best possible outcome for the Clutha District. As always, we appreciate your input and comments.