Government’s Three Waters replacement worries, frustrates local mayors - On the Tiles: Local Edition

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown during the post-Cabinet press conference with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announcing the repeal of Three Waters. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Government’s decision to repeal the previous Labour Government’s Three Waters plans has prompted warnings of increased rates and further delays in replacing critical infrastructure.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown announced they will be replacing Three Waters with two new bills that will move through Parliament over the next year.

The first bill will set out provisions related to council service delivery plans and transitional economic regulation, while the second will focus on the long-term replacement regime and regulatory backstops if councils fail to deliver safe and financially sustainable water services.

Lower Hutt Mayor and Wellington Water Committee Chairman Campbell Barry told On the Tiles - Local Edition, that the announcement - while expected due to the Government’s announced plans during the election - left him “frustrated”.

“It feels like there is another year of delay at least around a solution to the major challenge we have when it comes to Three Water reform.

“We know that this problem has been decades in the making and what this means is that we’re probably going to have to wait one, two, three, four years more than what we would have previously to deal to it and to start a pathway towards sustainable investment and infrastructure.”

Barry said it will take decades for Wellington to get on top of its issues with leaks, and further delays won’t help there.

He also cautioned many councils would have to now factor water services back into their 10-year plans, which could mean massive rates increases.

That’s the issue facing Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate. She told the podcast putting water services into their budget is estimated to result in four consecutive years of 14.1 per cent rate increases.

She said the Government’s proposed bill that councils will have to make water services financially sustainable is “the million dollar question” right now.

“Water is over 30 per cent of our budget, and with the increasing cost that’s likely to be greater. That’s part of the difficulty for local government across the country is the uncertainty of exactly what that means.

“If you read between the lines, Government has their own financial challenges, and I don’t think there’s going to be any free lunch here. I don’t think they’re going to be handing out money to councils to fix their water problems or to provide future water services.

“I think they’ll be looking at us to reform ourselves, which is a little bit back to the future because we’ve been in that space before where we’ve been asked to do better, local government join hands and work together. And we’re back in that space, but it’s unclear where the significant amount of investment’s coming from.”

Southgate said that what was clear to her was local councils would have to work together to get scale and efficiency across the board in delivering water services.

Listen to the full podcast of On the Tiles - Local Edition to hear more from Paula Southgate and Campbell Barry about the Government’s new plans for our water services.

On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available on Fridays.

This episode was hosted by Georgina Campbell, a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist, and has hosted On the Tiles - Local Edition since 2022.