Hudson BrettBRETT HUDSON (National): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. It's an absolute pleasure to rise in support of this the Gore District Council (Otama Rural Water Supply) Bill because it's fundamental at the heart of this bill this bill is about personal responsibility. We see the beneficiaries of the Ōtama water supply choosing—choosing to take upon themselves not only the ownership of the assets but the responsibility for their maintenance upkeep and improvement. They are the beneficiaries of the water that supplies those farms and they have voted—overwhelmingly voted—to take upon themselves the responsibility for those assets. Well that is a core National Party value and it was a delight to see Mr McAnulty stand up in this House and champion the National Party value of personal responsibility. There's hope for the man yet.Along the course of the debate on this first reading we've had a masterclass from this side of the House from Jacqui Dean with her local body experience on why this legislation is necessary to allow these people to take responsibility upon themselves for their water assets and also from Mr Ian McKelvie on these community water schemes—how they were developed and put in place by small communities around rural New Zealand how they lost control of them to councils particularly over the 1980s and beyond and how this in some way empowers particularly this community group to take that back.Now as a list MP based in Ōhāriu I like to tell my colleagues in particular that Ōhāriu is a mixed urban-rural environment and I would encourage members from across the House to drive through Ōhāriu Valley Takapu Valley and Horokiwi and see the farms for themselves—not as large it is true as the farms in many parts of the North and South Islands but still people making a living from the land in Ōhāriu. And not just the land because at Mill Creek in Ōhāriu Valley we have the Mill Creek wind farm and they make money in Ōhāriu Valley from wind as well which just goes to show that despite what the media sometimes report in Wellington you can get productivity from hot air.But what I would say in conclusion on this particular bill is to reinforce what it actually is and the choice that the good folk that benefit from the Ōtama rural water supply have made. The Gore District Council acknowledged that they believe that they had legal responsibility for those assets so that while they had been for some years charging the users of those assets for the maintenance and upkeep of them ultimately because the legal responsibility is borne by the district council if something had gone truly wrong or badly wrong then the ultimate financial responsibility for that could have been borne by the general ratepayers of the district and not solely by those benefiting from that water supply.So that makes it even more remarkable but not uncommon across rural folk of New Zealand—so many of them good strong National Party sorts. It makes it—perhaps not surprising to us but to some that the group of people from those more than 200 farms and other community members have overwhelmingly voted to take upon themselves that ultimate responsibility. Along the way of course they gain control of those assets. They can make the choices of what to do with the funding to support them on where to invest and when but alongside the power they get to make those decisions rests now with them the ultimate responsibility for those assets for their upkeep and for their prolonged ability to deliver for those farms.I think that speaks volumes to those people—not just in Ōtama actually but across rural New Zealand and New Zealand as a whole we would argue. But it speaks volumes for their character that where they could have kept the status quo where the ultimate responsibility would have been spread—socialising the losses I believe it's sometimes referred to as—and they could have maintained an environment where they could potentially have spread losses across people who don't benefit from that water supply when given the opportunity they have raised their hands in very large numbers and overwhelmingly chosen that they want to bear the responsibility. They want to be empowered to make their decisions and they are prepared to take the risks that come along with that and I salute them.