Grigg Nicola; McKelvie IanNICOLA GRIGG (National—Selwyn): Thank you Mr Speaker. I think this is what some might call the beginning of the end and I'd like to make a prediction to the House this afternoon: this is the moment that historians will look back on and refer to as the beginning of the dying days of the Ardern Government. This is just the latest example of Labour riding roughshod over our precious democracy. It is using its absolute majority once again to ram through a suite of bills that are some of the most anti-democratic pieces of legislation that this country has ever seen. This bill that we're here debating this afternoon let's be clear was not in Labour's election manifesto. On the back of yesterday's second reading of the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill this is just another example of the Labour Government riding roughshod over our democracy and ignoring the voice of the people. It is the workings of a Government that is tone deaf and utterly arrogant.Not only that; it is deceptive. Let's talk about the bribes that have been rolled out to local government across New Zealand—bribes; so-called no worse-off funding—in order simply to not speak ill of the Government. I know councils around New Zealand using that money for roundabouts and cycleways. Tell me how that is going to improve the three waters assets and delivery in this country. Back on the subject of deception the Government has engaged in the most deceptive advertising regime this country has seen. It has blamed local councils on a TV ad for the quality of our waterways. It has spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money to publicise blatant lies. Councils are furious. It is ducking and diving and dissembling and dismissing and today we have in front of us the first bill in a suite of bills that will tear three waters assets out of the hands of local ratepayers and into the gaping jaw of the behemoth that has become the Wellington bureaucracy. What this reform proposes is a smorgasbord of messy complicated convoluted governance structures. Nobody knows who will own what or what share of ownership anybody will have.Angie Warren-Clark: Read the bill then.NICOLA GRIGG: I have read the bill Angie Warren-Clark. I suggest you do too. This bill that you are referring to is totally ignorant of the fact that New Zealand does not want it. Councils up and down the country have rejected it. Communities across the North Island and across the South Island are protesting it as we speak. The people of Selwyn do not want it. The ratepayers of Selwyn have spent almost 30 years building amalgamating and paying for about $750 million worth of infrastructure asset. The 72000 people in the district that I represent do not want this. They have not been asked. They have not been consulted. The Selwyn District Council is just one of 22 district councils across the South Island that are going to be shut out of town. This bill does away with their representation. Those 22 councils will be amalgamated into entity D but we will have just seven seats. Of those 22 councils there will be seven representatives.Now the remaining seven seats will be taken up by mana whenua by iwi. Before Minister Mahuta can once again challenge us on this side of the House I would like to repeat the words of my colleague Simon Watts: National opposes a 50:50 co-governance arrangement at a regional representative level. Once again for the record: we do not support co-governance for public services like water delivery. This bill is as unconscionable as it is unconstitutional. There will be just seven voices to represent the million people in the South Island. This is classic Labour. It is ignoring the voice of rural and small communities. It is running a classic command and control and centralisation regime. Just like it has done with doing away with our district health boards and mega-merging everything into Health New Zealand it's going to try to do that again with our water assets. So I'm very much looking forward to a select committee decision to roadshow this thing to take it across the country to start listening to the people because trust me they will not be shy in telling you what they think about it.CHAIRPERSON (Ian McKelvie): Kieran McAnulty—five minutes.