Mahuta Nanaia: Local Government Borrowing Bill Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Mahuta Nanaia: Local Government Borrowing Bill Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:675;Page:21302] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 I too am pleased to take a call in this third reading of the Local Government Borrowing Bill and the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2). I will recapitulate a number of comments that have already been raised in the House. 
I support the general intent of the legislation which is to enable councils to borrow at a lesser rate than they currently do. In my mind this will do a number of things. It will enable councils to borrow at lower interest margins than they are currently borrowing at. It will also assure councils that have significant projects ahead of them that they can plan forward and have access to this type of borrowing mechanism. They will therefore have certainty of access to funds to enable their plans to be implemented. 
In listening very carefully to the contributions made across the House the significant types of infrastructure projects we are talking about are all the ones that are covered in the 10-year plans that various councils have been consulting on throughout our communities so one should not expect that access to this type of borrowing will enable pet projects to get off the starting blocks. In fact one might consider that this is where the council-community outcomes in the 10-year plans that are being consulted on with communities actually have a higher obligation to engage with communities so that they are very comfortable about the projections of significant infrastructure requirements that are being looked at and that are needed but also that need to be funded. 
I raise one small concern. We know that this Government has pulled away from funding the sewerage and waste water subsidy scheme and the drinking-water subsidy scheme. My one concern is that in small communities and rural communities of fewer than a hundred or so people will it be a significant type of project that would gain access to this type of funding? I draw the attention of the House to those smaller but very necessary types of schemes that were funded by the Ministry of Health. This Government pulled away that funding but they are very needy schemes in terms of their worthiness of being supported and funded. I am not absolutely confident that they will rate high on the radar of significant infrastructure projects. 
We are talking about small communities of 100 households here 100 households there and the like. I would like to think that those rural communities in very many of our electorates would gain some priority for funding their significant sewerage infrastructure upgrades but it is a lot of money for a small number of households. I have had direct experience with a number of councils that have said “Look it is just too costly for us to fund that by ourselves and to put the onus of that cost either directly on the council itself or to apportion some of that cost to that small number of rural residents.” I think it is still something that is worth considering. If not directly as a benefactor from this type of initiative it is worth considering those important infrastructure needs that need to be funded in some way or another. 
There have been contributions by my colleagues before me who have highlighted that we are supportive of a local government bond bank. We know that Kiwi mums and dads can actually contribute to investing in infrastructure requirements throughout their community have a stake in the ground if you like about what is happening there and about their ability to contribute and also benefit from their contribution through a bond-type scheme. We see this as a far better way and course to follow than public-private partnerships which will limit I think the types of people who can be involved in such investments. 
I also want to draw to the attention of the House that it was good to see that the Federation of Maori Authorities made a supportive submission on this legislation. They interfaced with local councils throughout the country on a number of issues and it is also in their best interests I think to see a better borrowing mechanism for councils because we know that there are a lot of unutilised lands that are currently in front of the federation that they are looking to get greater utilisation from but which have serious infrastructure deficits in terms of basic things like roading water sewerage and other infrastructure requirements. I can see the rationale for why the federation put such a supportive statement to the Local Government and Environment Committee on this legislation and where they see the greater benefits in terms of optimising currently underutilised pockets of Maori land in their area and optimising existing pockets of land that are currently being partially used but which could be optimised through having better infrastructure services in their area. 
I do not want to take too long on this legislation because much of the support that has been spoken about by colleagues before me really clearly put Labour’s position which is that we support it. We listened carefully to the submissions and I raised a number of small concerns but in evaluating I guess the effectiveness of this legislation in time to come the proof will be in the pudding and that will be specifically whether small infrastructure schemes often rural schemes will be funded to the degree of their need and whether they will see any benefit from this legislation. I certainly hope they do. As I said previously there are a number of worthy small rural communities in my electorate that have serious infrastructure needs in terms of sewerage and waste water and infrastructure schemes are not currently being funded because councils cannot afford to do it and because they cannot afford to apportion that responsibility totally on the resident population that requires these services. 
With that said I look forward to watching how this tracks out for councils over time. I also look forward to seeing how councils work together strategically thinking smarter about their infrastructure requirements and their capacity to borrow and service some quite big needs over the next 10 years. Kia ora.