“Three Waters” is flushed from recent govt press statements while National promises to flush away the new Three Waters laws
The latest bunch of ministerial statements tells us about a government splashing out on a programme that has delivered school lunches to 100 million school kids.
This comes from Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Education Minister Jan Tinetti, who notably do not mention the cost.
They do mention the savings and emphasise that Maori and Pacific school kids are big beneficiaries:
“The programme is estimated to save a family with two kids, on average, around $66 per week and $2,500 per year. It also supports over 2,300 jobs in communities across New Zealand. “
And:
Around 48 percent of learners (106,560) receiving a free and healthy school lunch are Māori and around 20 percent (44,400) are Pacific.
The government also is splashing out on a new fund designed to “help remove barriers and improve opportunities for the most underserved tertiary students in New Zealand”.
This time Tinetti does mention the cost:
The Government is reprioritising $10 million for Tūwhitia, a new fund that will co-invest with tertiary institutions to improve passing rates, participation and overall learning.
The programme is targeted at people who (according to the statistics which are informing the policy) most need the help – Māori, Pacific, disabled, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and people who are the first in their family to attend tertiary education.
Then there’s a bill aimed at boosting pay for bus drivers and providing more reliable public transport services. under new public transport framework.
This is one of a tsunami of bills on the government’s last-gasp legislative agenda before the general election, including more bills which deliver the Three Waters reforms.
But ministerial press statements no longer mention “Three Waters” to label the programme to improve the quality of the country’s water services. Those words were last put beside each other in a statement from former Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta (Next steps in securing affordable water services for New Zealanders) in December last year.
At that time she was braying about the passage through its third reading in Parliament of the first of three bills
“… that will ensure affordable drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services can be provided to New Zealanders now and into the future”.
Mahuta was referring to the Water Services Entities Bill, which (she said)
“… also provides for the transfer of the existing three waters workforce and expertise from local authorities to the new water services entities”.
When freshly minted Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reshuffled his cabinet earlier this year, Mahuta lost the local government portfolio and “three waters” was not mentioned in the press statement issued on August 16 when her successor, Kieran McAnulty, announced the Services Entities Amendment Bill had passed its third reading.
Parliament has today passed legislation providing stronger foundations for affordable, safe and sustainable publicly owned water services for New Zealanders.
But a key change to the Water Services Entities Act 2022 replaced Mahuta’s four water services entities with 10.
McAnulty said this allowed for greater community involvement in setting the direction of water entities while ensuring affordability of services for households.
“Moving from water services being run by 67 councils to 10 water services entities means the new entities will have the increased size required to access more funding and improve management of water services. This is how we will ultimately save Kiwi households cash.”
But wait. There’s more.
Indeed, legislator have been drowning in “Three Waters” bills, amendments to them, supplementary order papers related to them and what-have-you in an exercise of uncertain worth because National has assured voters the government will flush them away and introduce its own legislation to clean up our water services.
McAnulty yesterday issued a statement to announce the Water Services Legislation Bill had passed its third reading
He described this as “the next key piece of legislation required to ensure affordable, safe, and sustainable publicly owned water services for New Zealanders for generations to come”.
And he said that, as part of the water service reforms, the Government has now:
“The programme is estimated to save a family with two kids, on average, around $66 per week and $2,500 per year. It also supports over 2,300 jobs in communities across New Zealand. “
And:
Around 48 percent of learners (106,560) receiving a free and healthy school lunch are Māori and around 20 percent (44,400) are Pacific.
The government also is splashing out on a new fund designed to “help remove barriers and improve opportunities for the most underserved tertiary students in New Zealand”.
This time Tinetti does mention the cost:
The Government is reprioritising $10 million for Tūwhitia, a new fund that will co-invest with tertiary institutions to improve passing rates, participation and overall learning.
The programme is targeted at people who (according to the statistics which are informing the policy) most need the help – Māori, Pacific, disabled, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and people who are the first in their family to attend tertiary education.
Then there’s a bill aimed at boosting pay for bus drivers and providing more reliable public transport services. under new public transport framework.
This is one of a tsunami of bills on the government’s last-gasp legislative agenda before the general election, including more bills which deliver the Three Waters reforms.
But ministerial press statements no longer mention “Three Waters” to label the programme to improve the quality of the country’s water services. Those words were last put beside each other in a statement from former Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta (Next steps in securing affordable water services for New Zealanders) in December last year.
At that time she was braying about the passage through its third reading in Parliament of the first of three bills
“… that will ensure affordable drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services can be provided to New Zealanders now and into the future”.
Mahuta was referring to the Water Services Entities Bill, which (she said)
“… also provides for the transfer of the existing three waters workforce and expertise from local authorities to the new water services entities”.
When freshly minted Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reshuffled his cabinet earlier this year, Mahuta lost the local government portfolio and “three waters” was not mentioned in the press statement issued on August 16 when her successor, Kieran McAnulty, announced the Services Entities Amendment Bill had passed its third reading.
Parliament has today passed legislation providing stronger foundations for affordable, safe and sustainable publicly owned water services for New Zealanders.
But a key change to the Water Services Entities Act 2022 replaced Mahuta’s four water services entities with 10.
McAnulty said this allowed for greater community involvement in setting the direction of water entities while ensuring affordability of services for households.
“Moving from water services being run by 67 councils to 10 water services entities means the new entities will have the increased size required to access more funding and improve management of water services. This is how we will ultimately save Kiwi households cash.”
But wait. There’s more.
Indeed, legislator have been drowning in “Three Waters” bills, amendments to them, supplementary order papers related to them and what-have-you in an exercise of uncertain worth because National has assured voters the government will flush them away and introduce its own legislation to clean up our water services.
McAnulty yesterday issued a statement to announce the Water Services Legislation Bill had passed its third reading
He described this as “the next key piece of legislation required to ensure affordable, safe, and sustainable publicly owned water services for New Zealanders for generations to come”.
And he said that, as part of the water service reforms, the Government has now:
- Established the model for the 10 publicly owned water services entities;
- Strengthened the regulatory framework for the water services to protect people’s health;
- Established an independent water services regulator for New Zealand’s water service entities, called Taumata Arowai;
- Ensured New Zealanders will pay a fair price for water services and receive responsive, high-quality services from their water services entity, by providing for economic regulation of water services by the Commerce Commission.
And before we could ask “what co-governance” arrangements are being established in these laws?”, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Duncan Webb was announcing
- The last piece of water reforms passed by Parliament
- The new public water entities must charge fairly
- Public watchdogs have been set up to protect consumers’ interests
Then we were reminded that …
“In 2016, 5500 people got sick and four people died when Havelock North’s unchlorinated water supply was contaminated with Campylobacter.
“This is totally unacceptable. Access to safe drinking water is a basic health issue and human right, and this Government has made sure we’ve got a system that will deliver that.”
The Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill requires water suppliers to provide water at a cost and level of service consumers expect.
It also requires them to publicly disclose their performance, and sets standards for things like being transparent about how water services are charged for, clear communication about water network problems, and the way in which consumers should be treated when they have a query or complaint,” Duncan Webb said.
A Water Services Commissioner will be appointed within the Commerce Commission to oversee the system. The scope of the Consumer Advocacy Council will also be broadened so that it can advocate on behalf of water services consumers, and an independent dispute resolution service will be established to resolve disputes between consumers and water suppliers.
- More information the Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill is available here.
- The Water Services Review ran in parallel to the Government Inquiry into Havelock North Drinking Water.
- The Water Services Review ran in parallel to the Government Inquiry into Havelock North Drinking Water. The Water Services Reform Programme started in 2020. More information is available here.
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Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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