9thAug - 15th Aug
LOCALLY OWNED SINCE FOREVER
No 863
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
JO
BS
21 IN 1 S
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Three Waters Reform – the devil in the detail
The journey to Waters Reform has been shambolic, but it’s outcomes that matter – in terms of health, costs, access to water, reliability of services, impacts on waterways, urban planning, and local democracy. Of course, outcomes depend on our ability to effect change and hold decision-makers to account. The Water Services Entities Bill, which QLDC has just submitted against, makes it very clear who will have power and who won’t be accountable. The Minister will control the constitution of Entity D - which councils can’t ‘own’ because the normal rights and responsibilities of ownership sit elsewhere. QLDC will get one ‘share’ in the Entity giving it one ‘right’: to vote against certain sale proposals. Co-governance of the Representative Group has caused a stir, but it’s not what you should love or hate about this Bill because 50% of no power is still no power. There is also no democratic chain of accountability from that group down to the council ‘owners’ and the community. Again, that’s not material because the governance of Entity D is in serious need of dentures… If Queenstown Airport had the same powers as the entity, QLDC could ask the board not let noise impact our wellbeing but couldn’t stop the company writing expansion of the Air Noise Boundary into its Statement of Intent (SOI). QLDC would then have to sign the SOI and couldn’t fire the board for implementing it.
Fire gutted the Cardrona ski field retail shop on Saturday. Initial reports suggested it was caused by a heater but general manager of Cardrona and Treble Cone, Laura Hedley, says the cause is yet to be confirmed. See story on page 13
So, it will be the board of Entity D, and those it delegates to, that will decide how, on what, and where (in the South Island) your money is spent. They can enter 35-years joint arrangements with large foreign corporates (which won’t do wonders for competitiveness of the market) and they can decide to sell assets in certain (vague) circumstances. This is not warm and fuzzy community-minded reform; it’s corporatisation that’s been driven by industry since well before Labour took office. The risk of privatisation is real and no, there are no privatisation protections in the Bill that can’t be removed by a future Government. Making water services cheaper has been a selling point but they didn’t assess the economies of scope that might be lost in the pursuit of scale and balance sheet separation. I’d wager that your Entity D bill plus your rates bill will easily surpass your current rates bill. Finally, Entity D might not save you money, but it will have debt to burn. Its first decision might be to purchase you a water meter. Maybe that would be good news, maybe it wouldn’t, but one thing is certain, it won’t be a community representative with local knowledge weighing up the pros and cons… and you won’t be getting a say in it. Niki Gladding - QLDC Councillor
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