Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker thank you. I think we've just heard speeches from the ACT and National Party representatives that underline exactly why they shouldn't be in Government after October. We have heard from National that they'll leave it to the councils to sort it out but we haven't seen that happen to date. The Green Party would certainly have preferred that there was more incentive for revenue sharing with councils and that there was a better programme across Government to revenue share so that local government had the resources it needs to do the vital work that it does. But we have not seen a plan from either National or ACT about how they would deal with water services. I have a real fear that the corporate model that we are moving into with this legislation and the sister pieces of legislation—if National and ACT did get into Government what we've just heard from ACT talking about public-private partnerships is that there would be privatisation of these entities and that is why we're disappointed that there weren't stronger provisions in the original legislation to really provide a strong protection against privatisation with this corporate structure.There is no alternative—that acronym TINA" existed under the fourth Labour Government. We have seen tens of millions of dollars spent on analysis consultants' reports work by the Department of Internal Affairs the Water Industry Commission for Scotland and others to develop a framework legislation go through this House following on the establishment of Taumata Arowai as the regulator for water quality in terms of drinking water this other legislation to establish the regulator with the Commerce Commission to provide consumer protection which we still have to complete dealing with; there is a whole framework being established here. I have not heard from either National or ACT what the elements of their framework would be. We all agree on the need for increased investment in three waters infrastructure but we haven't heard a clear plan from the Opposition. I do acknowledge this bill and the Minister's effort to ensure that the entities are more closely connected to their local communities who are having 10 rather than four entities. There'll still be a lot of work to do once they go live through the discussions between territorial authorities in terms of how many representatives they will have on the regional representative group and how their votes should be weighted in the constitution to ensure that there is an adequate democratic voice from around the region. There is more flexibility now with the go-live date with the Order in Council process but also more certainty that they have to be done within six months of the legislation being passed. There are more safeguards around the Minister's powers of direction for shared services there is the ability for a locally led merger process and there is a longer establishment period. But the recognition of the need for increased investment moving things off the council balance sheet so that there can be much more debt funding of that—we do need to look at what has happened in the United Kingdom with the privatisation of their two waters entities and the huge level of debt which entities like Thames Water as a privately owned company have incurred. Their level of debt increased from $5 billion in 2010 to $14.3 billion and now that company is in serious difficulty. So the Commerce Commission will have a key job in its oversight of these entities ensuring that the debt doesn't get too burdensome and ensuring that there is no temptation that they be sold off in future.So the Green Party is supporting the bill. It has made improvements on the principal legislation but there will need to continue to be a lot of scrutiny of how these entities actually operate once they're established."