Meager JamesJAMES MEAGER (National—Rangitata): It is a great day to be a member of this coalition Government. It is a great day to be the representative from the greatest electorate in the country proudly representing the hard-working people of mid- and South Canterbury. And it is a great day to be a New Zealander because today we saw the beginning of the end of the previous Labour Government's centralisation agenda. Today this House repealed the disastrous power hungry Wellington-centric three waters reforms. Today we took our first steps towards restoring local council control of local assets and the first steps towards long-term sustainable collaborative investment in our water infrastructure.This is a great day for the people of mid- and South Canterbury. My two councils the Timaru District Council and the Ashburton District Council led ably by mayors Nigel Bowen and Neil Brown have long been two of the fiercest critics of these doomed three waters reforms. We heard a lot last night from the Labour shadow Leader of the House Kieran McAnulty who threw around a bunch of funny numbers about Ashburton council's water infrastructure needs. Well can I just remind the member that three days after the general election Mayor Brown went on the record along with 30 other mayors saying—and I quote—they look forward to the new Government swiftly repealing the outgoing Government's legislation" and "they have the electoral mandate now to get on with it and fix this flawed reform." Well that's what this Government has been elected to do. We have the electoral mandate granted to us by the people of New Zealand to get on with the job and deliver. After six long years of non-delivery we are here to get the job done.As an aside as it is Valentine's Day can I extend my heartfelt congratulations to my parliamentary cricket co-captain Mr McAnulty on his recent wedding. I wish he and his wife all the best. Having known them both for several years now I know that they are a perfect match for each other and are destined for a long and happy future.But that gushiness aside delivery is what the people of South Canterbury and the Timaru District Council have elected us to do. Timaru council under Mayor Bowen have been the staunchest opponents of the previous Government's centralisation obsession. They put their necks on the line. They tossed in their membership of Local Government New Zealand. They exercised their rights to challenge the Government in court. They tried everything they could to prevent central government confiscation of their assets assets built up by generations of South Cantabrian ratepayers who have consistently and responsibly invested in pipes and storage and treatment.As a result South Canterbury has been consistently rated and recognised as having the best drinking water in the country. From the New Zealand Herald in 2019: "Timaru takes out title of best drinking water in New Zealand". From Stuff in 2021: "South Canterbury tap water the best in New Zealand". Wow—that is what leadership looks like. That is what you get when you trust local decision makers to invest in local infrastructure. Yep pipes and drains may not be sexy and it's hard for attention-seeking politicians to cut a ribbon on something buried six feet under the ground but it's the stuff that well-functioning exceptional councils should deliver on. I'm proud of my local authorities and I'm proud of the focus that they've put on investing in critical water infrastructure. I'm proud of their opposition to centralisation and their commitment to high-quality decision-making at a local level.I'm proud to be part of a Government that trusts locals—one which believes the idea that decisions are best made as close to the people that they affect as possible a Government that believes that services delivered by the community for the community are far more effective than those dictated by us up here in Wellington. I'm proud to be part of a Government that will support all councils with the funding tools that they need so that every town and city across the island can have water as good as what you can drink at home in the "Riviera of the South". This is a great day for New Zealanders and we're only just getting started."