Bennett GlenGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Ko wai ko au; ko au ko wai. I am water; water is me. Now water is both life giving but it can also be life destroying. And we've heard examples of that already this morning in this debate. In fact right through the process of this legislation going through the House we have heard many stories of the challenges that we have faced not only for our people but also for our environment. Today the purity of our water sources is becoming more and more threatened. There are the challenges of our infrastructure but there are also the challenges of climate change of sea-level rises. And these threats impact on us in a range of ways. This is both for us locally but it's also on a global scale. Water has become economically environmentally ecologically culturally spiritually and politically one of the most significant issues of our time. Now clean green" that we love to talk about here in Aotearoa has been something that we have been challenged by in recent years—in making sure that the label that's on the box is what's inside and making sure that we are those people. Now this bill is simple. This bill is about clean and affordable water for all New Zealanders.Hon Michael Woodhouse: No it's not.GLEN BENNETT: Clean and affordable water for all New Zealanders. Now which part of that don't you like? Is it the clean bit or is it the affordable bit? Make up your mind.Now in 2020 I was privileged to be part of the New Zealand Leadership programme which had people from all sectors—[Interruption]—yes my colleague was on it as well—from business to the community from sports to the arts and everything in between. Now I remember throughout that year in 2010 a key message came out for me as many of the international and local speakers shared their stories in their life of leadership and this was that the wars of our future are going to be different to the wars from the past. Our wars of the future will be fought over energy over food and over water. So it shows the importance of us protecting this taonga—this thing that is life that is us.I want to thank the Hon Nanaia Mahuta for her courage for her tenacity for her resolute passion to ensure that our three waters here in New Zealand are fit for purpose not only for this generation but the next generation and the generations to come. To the Hon Nanaia Mahuta I want to thank you for putting yourself out there and for taking many of those jabs and attacks that have been on you for doing what is right for the future of our nation which is about protecting our people and about protecting our environment.Now as she spoke just earlier in the House there was a number that really stuck out to me and that was 107 million cubic metres of water are lost each year through leakage throughout our nation—107 million cubic metres. Now this is a lot of water and this shows that there are many challenges facing our councils and many challenges facing our infrastructure. And I want to say there have been a few things thrown around the House this morning. Someone from the other side of the House called out "Stop insulting councils." For me it's not about insulting councils or telling them they're bad or they're wrong; it's around how do we actually enable our future because reforms occur throughout history and throughout time and they're hard; they're not easy. Reform isn't easy because often it feels like we might be losing something or it might be that it's something I've always known and I have to change. But this isn't about telling councils they're bad or they're terrible; this is actually about how do we actually get it right for all New Zealanders. When the public wake up the next day once this bill becomes law we will still be able to turn our taps on and water will flow. When we wake up once this legislation is passed we'll still be able to flush our toilets and trust where they go. When we wake up the day after this bill becomes legislation our stormwater systems will still be operating. They will not be stolen or removed or taken away. These are the assets of our people and of our citizens. What I want to say is when we wake up the future is brighter because we can trust and work hard to know that when you turn on the tap that water is safe to drink and that you can trust where the toilet flush goes and where the stormwater flows and that it isn't ending up in our streams or our rivers or our ocean.In New Plymouth and in Taranaki we've had many challenges with our water systems. An example of that was Port Taranaki recently. Because of high levels of E. Coli and bacteria we were unable to have our secondary schools triathlon—because it was just too high in Ngāmotu Beach. It's about the people. It's around ensuring there are good assets to ensure that our people are cared for. Now the other thing I just want to push back on this morning is the notion of co-governance and how that seems to trigger a lot of response and how co-governance seems to trigger a lot of push-back. I'm not sure what you're afraid of. I'm not sure what you're concerned of when it comes to that. And it does grieve me when I hear the word "confiscation" used in this House when we talk about our water services. I come from Taranaki and I can tell you about confiscation. My colleague across the floor there Debbie Ngarewa-Packer can tell you about what confiscation really is. Confiscation is not about being able to turn the tap on the next morning and knowing the pipes are still there and you still have 100 percent access to those pipes. In our region in Taranaki we had thousands and thousands and thousands of hectares confiscated. Our iwi and our hapū were landless. They became landless in their own land because of confiscation so please don't throw "confiscation" around in this House when we're talking about pipes and when we're talking about infrastructure that will remain for the future and for the good of our generations.In closing I again want to thank the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and I want to thank the officials who have worked hard who have been challenged and who were able to work to get this to a place where I can confidently support this bill to the House this morning. But I want to finish as I began and that's a quote from Jacques Cousteau and he said "We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one." Simon Watts: You're adrift.GLEN BENNETT: Please listen up: "We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one." We need to protect our water. We need to protect our future. We need to protect our planet. I commend this bill to the House."