increase font size
A recent report on rural water schemes – commissioned by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) – will do little to quell users’ concerns about the Government’s contentious 3 Waters reforms.
OPINION: A recent report on rural water schemes – commissioned by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) – will do little to quell users’ concerns about the Government’s contentious 3 Waters reforms.
Despite the Rural Supplies Technical Working Group’s (RSTWG) making 30 recommendations to DIA, the fact remains that the country’s 100 or so council-owned rural water supply schemes will be transferred into the four new co-governed water entities.
Loss of local control, ownership and governance still remains a major bugbear for rural users with their water schemes subsumed into the four new mega water entities.
Just how good will a Christchurch-based water company – which has no local knowledge or governors – be at ensuring that a leak is promptly fixed on a farmer’s tank on a rural water scheme on the outskirts of Gore in Southland?
The answer is pretty obvious.
RSTWG chair and Clutha District mayor Bryan Cadogan claims his group has listened carefully to the concerns of rural communities.
Really?
The message for months has been pretty clear that rural water schemes users – up and down the width and breadth of NZ – wanted nothing to do with 3 Waters reforms.
Yet Cadogan and his RSTWG have still recommended that the country’s 100 or so council-owned and run rural water schemes be transferred to the new mega water entities.
It’s clear this working group was set up to come up with an outcome that both DIA and the Government wanted. The RSTWG members can take their 30 pieces of silver and move on.
The group was limited by its scope – due to the 3 Waters reform objectives.
DIA says it will now consider the RSTWG report and feed its recommendations into advice and draft policy, which will be considered by Cabinet for inclusion in “Bill Two” of the Three Waters Reform legislation.
In other words, like it or not, the country’s rural water schemes will be forced into the 3 Waters reforms as that’s what the Government wants and nothing is going to stop it.
Rural water users should remember this come the election in 2023!
According to a new policy position from Infrastructure New Zealand, long-term financial independence is critical for enabling local water entities to sustainably manage water assets and water standards into the future.
National Party local government spokesperson Simon Watts claims Labour is planning to rush a backdown bill through Parliament with as possible in what he describes as “another undemocratic Three Waters play”.
The Government's Three Waters reforms, now rebranded as the ‘Affordable Water Reforms’, is more of a rebrand than an actual policy reset.
The New Zealand Government looks set to vest the control of water to four regional authorities under its Three Waters policy, having already spent $34m on developing the concept and committing to office space in Auckland to house its 350+ staff and consultants that will cost at least $2.1m annually.
The late expansion of Three Waters to Five by Minister Nanaia Mahuta seems to have caught her own Cabinet colleagues out, with even the Prime Minister's office taking a while to get its spin straight on this one.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…
OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…
