Government to protect vital public water services for future generations
“It would be irresponsible to pour taxpayers’ money into propping up a broken system, or let households face unprecedented rises in water costs. Currently 43 of the 67 councils do not have the revenue to cover their water services operating expenditures at the moment, let alone once the infrastructure starts failing.
If anyone has been surprised the Government is simply going to take the water assets they haven’t been paying attention.
Labour have decided to fix the mess our water system is in and the super brain David Parker is driving this.
Essentially Maori out of good faith gave water to the Crown because it was a public good but when John Key privatized hydro power assets, the issue of ownership came back up with Maori wanting to know where their interests were.
On top of this was a malaise of underfunding in water infrastructure at the same time of exploding pollution from dairy farms.
This all adds up to a lopsided water supply with a few Councils doing well and a majority not.
So I’m all in favour of the State taking over and directly regulating it all.
It’s not a theft, it’s a transfer of power to a far better guardian who can handle the water challenges at a time of global warming.
Yes, I agree 3 Waters is being pushed hard by Wellington Council because their feckless criminal negligence has allowed them to be the biggest water basket case and hence biggest benefactor of handing over power to the State, but you learn pretty quickly in NZ politics that you have to bribe Wellington first if you want to advance big ideas.
The problem however is that the 3 Waters proposal can’t answer the most important question which is will it, once implemented, be able to stop water being taken by foreign companies & protect against privatisation.
What is the use of water reform if it can’t guarantee in a dangerously warming planet where fresh water will become scarce that overseas interests can’t simply steal our water like they do now?
There is also the issue of privatisation. What happens if ACT or National win power and want to privatise the Water?
This can’t just be about water infrastructure and making sure our water is clean, if you are taking it you must answer sovereign issues like foreign interests and privatization.
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