Court Simon; McAnulty KieranSIMON COURT (ACT): Mr Chair thank you. Mr Watts you can go next. Minister I'm interested in Part 3 Amendments to Local Government Act 2002" in particular clause 14 which allows for councils to carry out some long-term planning functions to amend an existing long-term plan which is the plan that authorises councils to spend money on infrastructure including three waters infrastructure. The committee understood that the Water Services Entities Act—the three waters bill that was passed late last year—meant that local councils were not able to commission any three waters work to replace any three waters assets any pipes waste-water treatment plants and so on that were damaged because the three waters reforms had meant that they weren't allowed to do any of that work or spend the extra money if it couldn't be completed by 1 July 2024 where councils are supposed to hand their assets over to the new water service entities. So can the Minister confirm for the committee that this clause allows councils to put some money into fixing infrastructure that the Water Services Entities Act wouldn't have allowed them to do otherwise?Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister for Emergency Management): The planning was for the implementation of the water services reform to prevent the commissioning of work that wouldn't be completed in time for those reforms to come into force. Obviously with the cyclone there is the need for certainty for the local government sector and the need for work to be done now. We didn't see the need in preventing that work from happening. This is a provision that we included in this at the request of the sector and we were happy to oblige.SIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Mr Chair. So further to that given that some projects are affected by construction cost inflation by procurement issues by getting key staff into the right place three waters projects are often complex. They require designing infrastructure in watercourses structural engineering mechanical electrical. Not only do they take time to design and implement they also take time to construct and then commission. So given that all of this was known before the Water Services Entities Act was passed last year—and in fact this advice was given to the Finance and Expenditure Committee that heard evidence from submitters on the bill—is it appropriate just to change this clause here through an omnibus bill these amendments to the Local Government Act or actually do you think that we should go back and look at the three waters reforms in totality to see what else might need to be fixed?Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister for Emergency Management): I'm happy to respond as far as it is relevant to this bill. This bill addresses a request that was made by the sector and we're happy to oblige.SIMON COURT (ACT): OK. So just to clarify have councils approached the Minister to ask for these clauses to be inserted in this bill before the cyclone and storm events or did they come to the Minister and make those requests after the cyclone and storm events?Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister for Emergency Management): As the member has pointed out himself there have been a range of views on this matter and some people pointed out during the select committee process that they should be allowed to continue to include water service infrastructure investments in their long-term plan. There were some that agreed that it shouldn't be in order to assist with the reforms. Nevertheless since the cyclone it has become clear with engagement from the sector that they wanted this to be included to allow them to make the necessary investments as a result of the damage from the cyclone and also to plan for resilience for future weather events.SIMON COURT (ACT): Further clarifying question on that: so is it correct that this clause allows all councils around New Zealand to make investments in their three waters infrastructure in the period between now—assuming this passes today—and 1 July 2024 that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to make?Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister for Emergency Management): The point of this is that it allows councils to make investments in water infrastructure as a result of the damage from the cyclone and also to prepare for resilience. It applies to all councils similarly to the proposal to allow councils to have those that are attending via video link or audiovisual technology to be considered in a quorum. That is also applicable to all councils and so too are the provisions around civil defence and emergency management groups. We didn't see the point in limiting these provisions to just those councils that are in the affected areas because of course resilience planning is an important part of any response and recovery planning."