OPINION

Three Waters reform is still a hot topic. The Water Services Entity Bill has had its first reading in Parliament and is now open for submissions.

In short, the purpose of the bill is to create the four new entities to take over the roles and responsibilities for drinking, waste and stormwater from councils.

Our council still opposes the reforms, and we will be making a submission to that effect, and so can you. Submissions close Friday, July 22.

You will also recall that Whangārei, Timaru and Waimakariri District Councils went to the High Court seeking a declaration on property rights and ownership of council assets. We are still waiting on that judgement.

On Thursday, June 23, our council voted to apply for the Government’s Three Waters Reform Better Off Support Package tranche 1 funding.

Does that mean we have sold ourselves out and changed our stance on our opposition to the Three Waters reform? I can categorically assure you it does not.

I accepted the assurance given by the Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta when she said there would be “no negative consequence” for any council who wished to apply for this first tranche of Better Off funding.

She used those exact words in the May 11 meeting with members of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ).

To clarify even further, the Department of Internal Affairs states: “For the avoidance of doubt, publicly criticising or expressing opinions on reform cannot reasonably be expected to have an adverse effect on the reputation, good standing or goodwill of the Department or the New Zealand Government, and would not represent a breach of the funding agreement.’

The Better Off Support funding can be applied to programmes or initiatives for our district that meet one or more of the following criteria:

Build resilience to climate change and natural hazards
Enable housing development and growth
Support local place-making
Improve community wellbeing.
You can see that the requirements for the fund are not linked to water assets.

We believe we have projects that will meet those criteria, and will be applying for the $9.48m in this first tranche of funding to support those projects.

Whangārei District Council has been allocated a total of $37.93m of Better Off funding calculated with criteria based on population, NZ Deprivation index and land area. The second tranche up to $28.45m would be available from July 1 2024, should the reforms proceed.

The benefits brought by a $9.48m boost to our district far outweigh any perceived risk, and we understand that many councils will follow suit, including some communities for Local Democracy (C4LD) member councils.

Hopefully this reassures you that the decision of council to apply for our allocation of the tranche 1 Better Off Support package in no way compromises our stance on the hot topic of Three Waters reform.