Water Services Reform Programme

[1][2] It originally proposed shifting control of stormwater, drinking water and wastewater management from the country's 67 local councils to several new publicly-owned regional entities by July 2024.

[5][6][7] From November 2021, a working group of mayors and Māori representatives reviewed issues of representation, governance and accountability, and reported back in March 2022 with 47 recommendations.

[22] The paper described the current situation (in most regions), where individual councils supply and manage water systems and services alongside their other duties.

However, the paper also noted that Wellington Water currently has no ability to make trade-offs between operating and capital expenditure, nor can it cross-subsidise between owners or ratepayers in different districts.

[24] In May 2020, ten councils in the Otago and Southland regions commenced the development of a business case for a collaborative approach to managing the three waters assets.

In response, the Department of Internal Affairs reaffirmed the Government's commitment to working with local councils on the Three Waters reform programme.

According to Mahuta, the group's findings would be placed into a supplementary order paper (SOP) to amend legislation creating the new entities that would manage the three waters systems.

[30] A working group of mayors and Māori representatives was formed in November 2021, to review the planned reform programme, focussing on improvements in the three most contentious aspects of the original proposal: representation, governance and accountability.

One of the key changes was that councils would be given non-financial shareholdings in the new water entities, with one share per 50,000 of population, and that there would be additional legislative protection against future privatisation.

[32][33][34] On 23 November 2022, the Labour Government decided to push the Water Services Entities Bill under urgency to compensate for the loss of a week's worth of parliamentary sitting time caused by Queen Elizabeth II's death on 9 September 2022.

Labour was able to pass the Bill without the support of other parties due to its majority status in the House, an unprecedented occurrence in New Zealand since MMP came into force.

The first bill sets up an economic regulation regime overseen by the Commerce Commission as a watchdog over the water services entities' quality and efficiency, and mandates information disclosures.

[45] Hipkins stated that the change was intended to allow Mahuta to focus on her foreign affairs portfolio but denied that it was motivated by controversy around the Three Waters programme.

Hipkins confirmed that Cabinet had asked McAnulty to consult with local government, Māori and the public and report back on options for "refocusing the reforms.

[13] On 21 December 2023, Newsroom reported that a letter from Brown to councils confirmed that Government planned to finance water and wastewater infrastructure by a new type of financially separate council-owned organisation.

During the third reading, Labour MP Willie Jackson claimed that former Local Government Minister and Three Waters architect Nanaia Mahuta had been subject to intense racist vilification.

[14] The farming advocacy group Groundswell NZ has voiced opposition to the Three Waters programme, claiming that it was part of a "tsunami" of unworkable government regulations and alleging that it was the theft of the assets of council ratepayers.

[57] In late February 2023, Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) chair Rob Campbell criticised National's proposal to scrap Three Waters in a LinkedIn post and accused Luxon of "dog whistling" on the issue of co-governance.

Campbell's remarks were criticised by several National and ACT MPs including Simeon Brown and David Seymour, who accused him of breaching the Public Service Commission's policy requiring the directors of Crown entities to remain politically impartial.

Campbell defended his remarks, stating that they were made in his capacity as a private citizen and rejected suggestions that he had violated the Commission's political impartiality policy.

On 28 February, Health Minister Ayesha Verrall used her discretionary powers under section 36 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 to relieve Campbell of his position as head of Te Whatu Ora.

[63] On 9 September, Mayor of Dunedin Aaron Hawkins published an op-ed column in the Otago Daily Times expressing concerns about the Three Waters programme's financial benefits, local consultation and the lack of safeguards against privatisation.

[67] In mid-December, the "Communities 4 Local Democracy He hapori mō te Manapori” group converged on Parliament and met with politicians to express their opposition to the Three Waters programme.

[75] In early July, Waimakariri District Mayor and Communities 4 Local Democracy deputy chair Dan Gordon urged the Invercargill City Council to reconsider its decision not to join the lobby group.

[79] Despite its stated opposition to the Three Waters reforms, the Taupō District Council applied for NZ$4.93 million in funding from the Government for an upgrade to Owen Delany Park.

Following his election as Mayor of Auckland, Brown instructed the region's water management company Watercare to stop working on the programme on 17 October, describing it as a "doomed proposal".

Mayor of New Plymouth Neil Holdom expressed support for the water reforms and urged the Labour and National parties to put aside their political differences.

[51][92] In mid-May 2021, Te Maire Tau, the chair of Te Kura Taka Pini, the Māori tribe Ngāi Tahu's freshwater group, disputed claims by the opposition National Party leader Judith Collins that the Government was planning to transfer 50% of the publicly owned water assets in the South Island to Ngāi Tahu.

[96] In mid May 2021, National Party leader Judith Collins claimed that the Government was planning to transfer 50% of the publicly-owned water assets in the South Island to the Māori tribe Ngāi Tahu.

[7][65] Christopher Luxon, who had replaced Collins as National Party leader, accused the Government of misleading local councils about Three Waters being optional.