Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Chair. Well look you make a great point Madam Chair that it's important that we focus on those aspects which the Supplementary Order Paper proposes to repeal and that is the entrenchment provisions section 206AA the reserved provision Subpart 4A which relates to the obligation on the Water Services Entities Minister to maintain ownership and control of water services and significant assets.So Minister Mahuta I'd like you to respond to a couple of specific questions. Through ownership or control you've stated a number of times that the water services entities will not be in control of the assets and that local councils will retain control but they can't sell them they can't leverage any debt against them they can't generate revenue from the assets. So the challenge Minister is to understand whether these provisions which apparently prevent privatisation and which the Minister has tabled an amendment seeking to repeal are actually to stop the water services entities from returning assets to councils from which they will be taken. So Minister could you please give us a response to that in a moment? After this Supplementary Order Paper has been passed will that allow the water services entities to return water assets to councils if they wish to in the future even if this legislation is passed?And Minister I want to ask for your understanding of this concept of privatisation which this Supplementary Order Paper relates to because Minister you've written to the ACT Party today—and I understand to other parties—asking will these parties support a motion or the concept that these assets should not be privatised. So Minister I want to clarify what privatisation" means to you. Does it mean a public-private partnership (PPP) where say KiwiSaver ACC and other institutions invest shareholders' or investors' funds in public assets? And that could be schools such as seven schools and two corrections facilities established as public-private partnerships including Auckland prison; the schools PPP bundle; Hobsonville School; Auckland South Corrections Facility Wiri Prison—all established with private capital. So Minister did you intend that private capital—investors' funds people who wanted to invest in infrastructure—would be excluded from doing so by the provisions of this entrenchment which prevents ownership and control of water services and significant assets?So now Minister do you support by repealing this entrenchment clause here in this SOP the inclusion of private capital and institutional—like ACC and super funds my KiwiSaver fund for example—investing in water infrastructure? All kinds of organisations want to be able to invest in infrastructure it has fantastic long-term guaranteed rates of return for investors and it also provides the additional capital that's needed where the taxpayer or the ratepayer doesn't have any more capital to contribute.Minister you've made the point a number of times that the reforms which relate to this reserved position and this proposed amendment actually would allow water services entities to achieve balance sheet separation. Minister I'm assuming that that allows for the inclusion of private capital investments in water service entities. So Minister will you confirm that the Government and the Minister are open to private capital being invested in water service entities and water services infrastructure?"