Body on the line!
OPINION: Your old mate has heard about rugby players putting their bodies on the line for their country, but not bureaucrats.
Despite strong opposition, the three waters reform is now going to be mandatory, with the Government over-riding councils that have voted to 'opt-out.'
It will force councils to hand over local water assets to the new 50/50 iwi-controlled water entities, and taken over by four new, big water authorities.
The irony is that the driver behind the change, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta, has no idea of how rural water supplies actually operate.
Apparently, she asked one rural council, after touring its water scheme, if suppliers' tanks were individually filled by water trucks - rather than the obvious pipes to the tanks coming from the council's water scheme. God help us!
