Cam Slater: New Three Waters: Same Same but Different

The Government has announced its new Three Waters plan, and called it Affordable Waters. They clearly think we are all stupid and don’t realise that, despite the ‘new’ name, it is still the same stupid plan but with added complexity, and still has the offensive and racist co-governance model embedded into it.

Instead of four entities, there are now ten, which means even more management staff, consultants and trough-feeding scumbags to sustain. It also still effectively steals your water assets and gifts half of them to Maori interests.

It is a sham rejig and National is calling it rubbish:

The Three Waters shake up to the new Affordable Waters reform is “a complete shambles”, National leader Christopher Luxon says.

Meanwhile, the Green Party is calling the rebrand insufficient in protecting the environment.

The Government announced on Thursday it will create 10 new public water entities instead of four, while keeping controversial co-governance aspects in a reset of its Three Waters reform.

Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty described the change as a major shake up, with the overall reforms “absolutely essential” in preventing unaffordable rate bills.

Speaking from Thames, Luxon said the name of the reforms had changed, but “we’ve still got the divisive co-governance arrangements in place”.

Stuff

And if you want to know all about the co-governance model you don’t have to look too far to find the iwi elites are ecstatic about the new model, probably because they can see a broader and deeper trough for them to sup from:

Tainui chair Tuku Morgan says Iwi around Aotearoa will be jumping for joy with the changes to the Government’s contentious Three Waters reforms.

Morgan, who was last year appointed to lead the northern Three Waters Iwi body, said they had met with last week with Ministers Kieran McAnulty, Willie Jackson, Kiritapu Allan and Kelvin Davis and had three bottom lines that they would not budge on.

The Iwi leaders make up the Water Forum and Morgan said their concerns were warmly received by the ministerial delegation.

“We are happy that we reached a shared decision. When we met the the ministers last week there were three issues we wanted the crown to hold fast on,” Morgan said.

“And they have delivered.

Morgan said three issues are:

· The 50/50 Partnership Board – not a co-governance board.

“The Partnership Board better characterises the direction we want to head to as those boards have their foundation in Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” Morgan said. “Even when we get to the 10 boards, we will have a greater voice and equitable say across councils in those 10 rohe (area), so from that point of view, we are euphoric – we are happy with the result.”

That entity A – which goes from Tamaki all through the North remains. “The basis of our support is that we need size and scale to ensure affordable water rates are achievable outcome in the next 20-30 years. From an intergenerational point of view we are heading in the right direction with size an scale so the remote Iwi and hapu who have been left off the council priorities will get looked after.”

Morgan said the third and final winning point was “Te Mano te Wai – mana of the water – will have a special status.

“Even though there’s a provision for communities to have a priority status, it will not in anyway shape or form, overshadow, minimise or compromise the standing of Te Mana o te Wai standing being provided by Iwi and hapu,” Morgan said.

“Those are the three points we debated and with the Prime Minister and we got what we wanted. I am very very happy. When we met this morning with the Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty before he met with the mayors, he has held his ground and I can tell you Iwi across this country will be very happy with the announcement from the Prime Minister.

NZ Herald

Chris Hipkins dropped his tweeds for Maori interests and shafted every other Kiwi in the process. Iwi are ecstatic about the Three Waters reform; they said they got everything they asked for. Be afraid, be very afraid!

The highlighted parts above are the most dangerous part of the whole thing, and Hipkins agreed to strengthen them even more!

No one wants these changes, yet the Government, in lockstep with iwi elites, is effectively conducting a bloodless coup and ceding control over your water assets to unelected and unaccountable iwi.

Renaming it doesn’t make the plan any more appealing.

However, National’s local government spokesperson Simon Watts said the Government’s renewed reforms were the “the same broken reforms, just with a new coat of paint”.

“Adopting 10 new entities rather than four makes a mockery of Labour’s repeated claims that four entities was the only way to go and would provide huge economic benefits.”

Stuff

The benefits stated by the Government are amorphous and unmeasurable. We are told this will prevent huge rates increases, but there is no detail to say precisely how this will be achieved. It is just more slogans and empty promises being made by people who won’t be around to see the deleterious effects of their reforms.

Remember Max Bradford’s electricity reforms? How’s that cheaper power working out for you all?

Remember Rodney Hide’s Auckland Super City reforms? How are those cost savings and rate reductions working out for you all?

Neither Chris Hipkins nor Kieran McAnulty will be around when massive rates hikes and water costs hit us when these reforms fail, and fail they will.

These reformed plans are just the same as before with a slight tweak, but all of the abhorrent features of the last plan.

Labour has learned nothing. We are all being shafted by this plan. These guys think changing the name will make a difference. In reality, they are pissing all over us and telling us it is raining.

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. This article was first published HERE