Patterson MarkMARK PATTERSON (NZ First): Thanks Madam Speaker. I rise to give New Zealand First's support for this Taumata Arowai—the Water Services Regulator Bill—I hope the pronunciation wasn't too horrific; my apologies to anyone that was offended by that. So this is the stand-alone water regulator that is the response to the Havelock water situation. I don't think we need to be reminded that it was a tragic set of circumstances. This regulator will give a high degree of focus to what is an incredibly important utility: our drinking water.The information that we have here suggests that up to 34000 people a year get sick from drinking water which is not the ideal situation at all obviously. In fact our very own scheme the Lawrence Tuapeka water scheme is on a boil-water notice at the moment; it had a pipe break and for the last two or three weeks we've had boil-water notices. So it is such a ubiquitous thing water and its delivered by a plethora of different deliverers.I had myself the honour of bringing the Ōtama rural water bill before the House earlier this year and that was a fiercely independent group of local farmers that had put the Ōtama rural water scheme on; 230-odd households getting drinking water from that. You know it does stir the emotions. They put a lot of work into that they wanted to run it they felt they had the competency—and they do have the competency—to do so. But it's that greater oversight that we need. I know there's those water schemes all around the country. I see Minister O'Connor there; he'd be well aware of the Hector Ngākawau situation over on the Coast where they too have a disputed ownership of a water scheme. And you know small communities take a lot of pride in delivering their water but this is the 21st century and we have an expectation of very high standards of drinking water and that no matter where you live you should be entitled to have that standard of drinking water; certainly not a standard that would see 34000 people getting sick.Of course there is the three waters reform that Minister Mahuta is bringing through. This is a wide-ranging piece of work—we talked about the infrastructure bill earlier on—to get some funding because it is going to be expensive but you know that's just the reality of the situation and we will have to look at ways as to how we can fund these reforms and different special purpose vehicles etc. for funding infrastructure. For small councils particularly it is going to be quite a strain on them. The Gore District Council is quoting $60 million to get their three waters up to the standard that they're perceiving is going to be required. So that's going to be a significant cost on a rather small council.So I don't think we've got too many concerns about this. It was a very clear directive from that report that came back from the Havelock inquiry. It does make sense. It's probably long overdue if we're being honest. It's something that we would have expected would be just a given in a First World country like New Zealand; I think we've got the second best or the best freshwater standards in the world. So it's something that maybe we've just taken for granted because we have had such a high standard of water over time. We know our farmers are doing their best to protect their waterways and the reforms that are going on there. So fresh water's become quite a topic of conversation and all its forms—and it's in the rivers in the drinking water and in the three waters with the waste water and sewerage and the like. So New Zealand First think this is a thoroughly sensible bill and we will support it through to the next stage. Thank you.