Gore District Council, Invercargill City Council, and Southland District Council will submit to government in opposition of Three Water reform.

Invercargill City Council (ICC) councilors voted last week to make a submission to the Water Services Entity Bill, the first of three pieces of legislation that will give effect to Three Waters reform. 

The submission outlines ICC’s concerns relating to ownership of water infrastructure, representation of the community, impact on the Council’s ability to support place making and development and affordability for communities. 

Council Infrastructural Services Committee Chair, Councillor Ian Pottinger, said Council was not supportive of the government’s Three Waters reforms. 

“The reforms are not in the interests of the Invercargill and Bluff communities.”

“Council believes these reforms will result in higher bills and reduced investment in essential water infrastructure, which is the complete opposite of what the Government intends.”

Gore District Council (GDC) announced yesterday that they are calling on government to conduct a national referendum on Three Waters reform, to prove it has public support.

Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks was also critical of the process so far. 

“If the Government genuinely believes in democracy and acting in accordance with the wishes of the people, it needs to realise its clumsy approach to the reform process demands a fresh mandate.” 

GDC says the referendum could be done as part of this year’s local body elections or as a standalone event shortly afterwards. 

Councillors also unanimously endorsed a submission to the Finance and Expenditure Selection Committee opposing the Government’s model for Three Waters reform. 

However, they acknowledged the current system for financing water and wastewater services needed to change.

GDC describes the proposed four water service entities, which will oversee the delivery of services throughout the country, as unduly complex and laden with bureaucracy. 

“The labyrinth of regional representative groups and panels makes it near impossible to tell how the average citizen will have any reasonable way of wielding a modicum of influence,” says Hicks.

 “Put another way, the reform proposal will likely create four bureaucratic monsters that will be hard to penetrate and even harder to influence.” 

The council was also critical of the Government’s “misleading” advertising campaign to justify the reform, saying it was duplicitous and caused a high level of mistrust within local government. 

Southland District Council also announced in a meeting late last month that they will submit on reforms.

The submission has not yet been made public.