Doocey MattMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): I think you were right Madam Speaker. The time is up! And that's exactly what's happening tonight. Another round of urgency and isn't it interesting that out of all the four three water bills—because that's what it is; we're not allowed to talk about three waters any more on that side of the House but it's another three waters bill—all four of them have been brought in under urgency. All four of them! The Leader of the House when he passed the urgency motion talked about all these bills having a common feature. Boy do they have a common feature. They've been rushed through under urgency because they've gone down like a cup of cold sick out around New Zealand.I'm not surprised that they're now trying to lowball this bill because really who on that side of the House would want to be talking about three waters after last night's poll? They walk in today battered and bruised and then they say Well it couldn't get any worse." and then the whip says "Yes it can. You're on the speaking list to talk about three waters again." and then the member for the West Coast has to get up and talk. Boy you could see the tail of that rat dangling out his mouth as he chewed on it as he knows how three waters has gone down on the West Coast. But he's been around a while and in fairness he kept a brave face. He had to for the young ones. He had to keep the ship steady because he knows it's tanking and he knows what's going to happen.Of course it is interesting when I heard the Minister speak and he went through his very perfunctory report—it's interesting that back in the days it was about the cost of living. Remember what three waters was about? It was the cost of living. Now I think there was some sort of mumbled response to weather events. That's the problem with these bills. It's that every time they're changed—but in fact all they need to do is listen to the submitters. And what I thought was very interesting from that member's speech tonight was that there was very little about the select committee stage and the overwhelming opposition from the submitters to this bill.Let's remember what this bill is about. It's an omnibus bill that will establish and empower the water services entities. Remember them the water services entities? The Government started off with four of them and then obviously they had to have a back down. So they put another bill in and now there's ten of them and it's going to establish and empower water service entities. The reason why the submitters opposed this bill is that under these water service entities they will facilitate State theft of locally owned water assets. That's exactly what this bill does: it enables the transfer of locally owned public assets from councils to unaccounted unaccountable mega entities. That's exactly the detail of this bill that we're talking about in the second reading as it goes through under urgency because the reality is the Government's run out of time. It's an absolute shambles and that's why the submitters overwhelmingly opposed the bill.So for the Minister to get up tonight and say that well they listened in the select committee process; they didn't because the submitters were opposed to it. Of course let's also remember not only will it be State theft of locally owned assets this bill will set up the pricing and charging arrangements for water services and overwhelmingly the submitters oppose that. The reason they oppose that is because there's going to be a blanket charge across the whole water entity. There will be no variation for communities that local governments and councils allowed for in their pricing structures. So you're going to have small communities cross-subsidising larger ones. That was the point of keeping it locally controlled for local councils because they know their communities. Now there's only going to be the mega entities who will set a fixed price across the water entity. That's what people are opposed to.They're opposed to the confiscation of their assets and they're opposed to the uniform charge across because of course—and I'd like to say "Well done Simon Watts". He's been very clear and concise outlining very articulately National's policy on three waters and what we will do. It is very clear that this issue will come straight back to Parliament after the election because when National is in Government we will repeal this bill and replace it. What we know is that communities know best and we're going to back local councils because they know what's best in it for them.If we go back we've had the Water Services Entities Act 2022 which set up three waters. Then we had to have an amendment the Water Services Entities Amendment Act 2023 which backed down on the four entities and set up 10. Now we've got the Water Services Legislation Bill which will establish and enable water services entities. What's been very clear through this whole process is that this has been a sham. Decisions have been made before consultations have proceeded. It's all been about decisions made behind closed doors. Remember when the Government promised councils that they could opt out? Then Official Information Act documents revealed it was a legislated all-in right from the start. So there's no good faith. These trilogies of bills have turned up in the House. In fact it's bad blood. And that's exactly why three waters has gone down like a cup of cold sick.The reality is voters don't trust this Labour Government. They're sick of them talking out both sides of the mouth. Remember that advertising campaign with the green sludge coming out of taps that they had to pull off the ads that used taxpayers' money? That was disingenuous. This Government talks about misinformation and disinformation. They should look at themselves.Let's be very clear. National will repeal three waters and scrap the 10 co-government mega entities. We will restore council ownership and control set strict rules for water quality and investment in infrastructure and ensure water services are financially stable. On behalf of the National Party and our local government spokesperson Simon Watts soon to be the Minister for local government who will work with that sector—he will listen to them and most of all he will return assets stolen from this Government back to the councils so they're locally controlled and accountable to the people who paid for them. But of course as we've learnt through this whole process of four bills through three waters Labour knows best Wellington knows best and what they're going to learn on 14 October is that they didn't know that at all. Thank you Madam Speaker."