Verrall Ayesha; Brown SimeonHon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Labour): Thank you Madam Chair. As a list MP based in Wellington and given the Wellington issues portfolio I'm aware of the significance of these reforms for our city. For those who haven't had the summer that Wellingtonians have to update you on the situation that Wellington is in with respect to water we have extensive damage to drinking-water pipes that has meant that perhaps 45 percent of our water supply leaks onto the roads and gutters around the city. As a jogger around all parts of Wellington City—some places every hundred metres I might encounter a leak on some of my runs around the town. It is extremely important to Wellingtonians that we have the ability to address this in the long term. We are already under water restrictions and threatened with increasing restrictions in one of New Zealand's biggest cities. In addition the future impact of further diminished water supply is not only that the restrictions become more harsh but that the diminished amount of water moves so slowly through the pipes that it increases the likelihood of bacterial contamination and us being unable to drink the water at all. That has terrible consequences for a town. I know because in the last Government we had the experience of having to support Queenstown through the cryptosporidium contamination of their water supply which was a terrible incident for such an important city for New Zealand; not only the number of people who were desperately ill with diarrhoea and abdominal cramps and unable to go to work and prepare food in a tourist town but also the fact that visitors to this important city saw that rather than being able to put out a picture of a modern city to our international visitors they found we were in the Victorian era with respect to the water infrastructure we had.So my question with respect to the purpose of this bill is: will this bill enable continued use of balance sheet separation for the water entities that are proposed in the future? Of course the issue there for Wellington is that our city council is near to its debt limit. Additional debt will need to be taken on in order for the level of widespread repairs that need to be made in Wellington. It is absolutely essential that we get past some of the petty politics that were raised by other members in this Chamber earlier and actually get on to the issue of how these reforms will support balance sheet separation and the ability for us to be able to get on and pay for the work that needs to be done.Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Local Government): Thank you to the member the Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall for the comments and the explanation of the issues in relation to Wellington and Queenstown. We're not repealing the Taumata Arowai legislation. Taumata Arowai plays an important role in terms of regulating safe drinking water in New Zealand. That's not part of the purpose; it's not what this legislation does. Our Local Water Done Well policy will ensure that councils are able to have financially sustainable models for water infrastructure in New Zealand accessing long-term funding and financing so they can make the investments that they need in this important infrastructure.