SpeechHon DAVID BENNETT (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. The Water Services Legislation Bill the National Party will oppose. As our previous speaker Matt Doocey said we will reverse this legislation later this year.The nature of three waters and the Labour Party is quite interesting—why they actually want to progress it at this stage. Why have they been so keen on having this Parliament in urgency for the last couple of weeks and this week to pass this bill?Angela Roberts: We're taking responsibility.Hon DAVID BENNETT: The Labour member over there says responsibility"—I'll come back to that. The reality is that they have no faith in what they're going to deliver at this election. This is an insurance policy from the Labour Party if they have to go into coalition with other parties. They're pushing through as much of their agenda now so that—just say they were in a coalition which they don't have control over—they've got the vast majority of what their agenda is. That's the only reason you would do that now. Why would you have your MPs here not campaigning and have them doing bills like this if it isn't an insurance policy? I see a couple of smirks from the Labour members of Parliament because they know that they've discussed this at caucus and that is the reason they are doing it. They know they're not doing it out of any genuine legislative requirement. The member over there said "We're doing it because we needed to." That's a falsity. The Labour Party has dressed up the idea of water quality in New Zealand as requiring them to do this agenda.They have used one example of an issue that can happen any time. After this legislation it could well happen. That has enabled them to promote legislation around three waters because it's so vital now because everybody's at risk from the water they drink! The water we drink tonight could be at risk! That's what the Labour Party is saying. Our fundamental water system is broken! We need to be out there doing it! What a load of rubbish—an absolute load of rubbish. New Zealand has some of the best water quality for drinking water in the world and the Labour Party are using one instance as an excuse to try and create an agenda. This isn't about getting better water quality for our communities it isn't about saving money for our communities—and I'll come back to that—this is simply to reinforce their co-governance role that they have dictated to. This is what the Labour Party has done. They've done a deal in their caucus around co-governance of water and they have to push that through before the election just in case they're in coalition with Winston after the election—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order! The member will now talk about this bill.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Oh I thought you wanted his full name—Winston Peters they'll be in coalition with. But coming back to the bill one of the big things in the bill is actually the cost. The Labour members over there have talked about that already. They're saying this will save consumers—save ratepayers. It just doesn't happen that way. How can a water system that is deficient—that's the Labour Party's argument. If you just put it all together it's suddenly got a lot of capital to change all the problems that you've got in the system. How does that work? Where does that come from? That's what the Labour Party is saying. All they're really doing is robbing one council to pay another council and they are doing that time and time again.Now when submissions were in around the water services bills all these councils came forward and said that they were against the bills. Glen Bennett: Which bill?Hon DAVID BENNETT: It's not just this bill; it's the combination. They were against them and the Minister went on this glorious trip around New Zealand listening to these councils. Not one of the councils' wishes was actually made to happen. The bills still went ahead; they didn't stop it. It's predominantly rural councils that have invested more and got their infrastructure at a good level that are now going to pay for some urban councils that have spent their money on cycleways and playgrounds. That's effectively what's going to happen. The greatest example is actually Whangārei. Whangārei has actually got one of the best water systems in New Zealand—they've invested in it—and they're going to take that off them and make it part of Auckland. Then Whangārei is going to lose that investment—the growth that could have happened in Whangārei—because over the next 20 years that'll be run down. That'll be run down because that money has got to go into Auckland.How do you pay for the changes in Auckland around stormwater? Because they're not going to be a billion dollars. Nobody can tell me that you're going to be swimming in those eastern suburbs or North Shore beaches for a billion dollars. There's no way that's going to happen—no way.Helen White: Do you think we should be able to swim in the beaches?Hon DAVID BENNETT: "Do you think we should be able to swim in the beaches?"—well of course you should be able to swim in the beaches. But somebody's going to pay for the change. They're saying "It's only a billion dollars to fix up Auckland stormwater." I don't think it's going to happen that way. Wellington—what's the percentage of water actually lost every day in Wellington through leaky pipes? It's horrendous. And you're going to fix that? How much is that going to cost? "That can't be a billion dollars. That's got to be like $200 million because it's not as big as the Auckland problem."—that's the reality for these guys. They actually believe that they can do something with nothing.Mark Cameron: They're mathematically illiterate.Hon DAVID BENNETT: No it's not that they're mathematically illiterate—because Grant knows and Grant's told them in caucus that this will work and they all believe Grant because Grant has never been wrong!Ingrid Leary: Point of order. I believe that if the member is referring to a member of this House he should use the member's name not the first name.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Well I'm quite happy to say Grant Robertson can't be wrong! Grant Robertson has told these members and they've lapped it up as good little lap dogs would and they believe in what Grant Robertson said about the economy coming right and "Don't worry about the economy." Suddenly it's dawning on them now two months out from election that Grant Robertson might have told them a fib. Grant Robertson might have actually not told them the truth.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Order! I would like the member to come back to this particular bill instead of talking about someone who might not have told—you were not there. Can you just come back to the bill. You're trying to make a story up.Hon DAVID BENNETT: OK. I wasn't there but I've heard from others that were there about what actually happened so I've got a pretty good idea what happened there. You can see it on their faces because they're starting to realise; it's starting to tick over in their minds that maybe this isn't such a great idea. Maybe we have been conned—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): And maybe you should just come back to the bill before I get you to sit down.Hon DAVID BENNETT: It takes some time to get the Labour members to understand what is actually happening to them and it's very difficult because they've been brainwashed in caucus time and time again—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): No—talk about the bill the Hon David Bennett. Come back to the bill.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Three waters is their great solution to the water issues in New Zealand but nobody's going to pay for it! Now I'm sure Simon Court is going to stand up and say the same thing because he's brought up the same arguments in the select committee. He understands that you're not going to magically solve Auckland's stormwater issues—stormwater is a big part of the bill; around $1 billion. You're not going to solve Wellington's failing water system with the small amount of money they are talking about. What this bill actually does is co-governance and then makes New Zealand ratepayers pay again for it and it won't actually achieve anything because the Labour Party has never achieved anything in six years. While they think they can do something out of nothing the reality is that nothing actually happens. That's what we've seen from them.New Zealanders aren't that silly. New Zealanders understand that you just don't put all the entities together and suddenly have this magic pot of money that's going to solve all the issues and that you can swim in the beach because the Labour Party has put the three entities to 10 entities and made them all perfect. The reality is that the New Zealand public don't believe Grant Robertson. The Labour Party members of Parliament—the 30 on the backbench—that have believed him are starting to realise the folly of their ways. This bill is just another example of a failing Labour Government."