Pugh Maureen; Williams PotoMAUREEN PUGH (National): Thank you very much Madam Assistant Speaker. It's again my pleasure to stand in support of the Gore District Council (Otama Rural Water Supply) Bill. Although I haven't been involved with the select committee that has been considering this bill I think probably because of my connection with council over time they saw me as a valuable contributor to the discussion—I hope so anyway. As we've heard today from many of the speakers this is a very non-contentious bill. It simply seeks to determine a pathway forward for the Gore District Council to transfer the Otama Rural Water Supply scheme—including all of its assets—to those who have built it who have paid for all of those assets and who have paid for all of the maintenance right from the beginning of the scheme and through to any replacements and upgrades that have happened over the years. Of course those people who are users of and payers for this scheme the Otama Rural Water Ltd company—as it is formed now—will take receipt of the assets from this water scheme. So simply to outline a little bit of history about this scheme we need to go back about 50 years to when this particular scheme was set up. As we heard before back in the 1970s when there was a need the local community simply got themselves together they got some local labour they got some cash between themselves they got a grant and a subsidy and together they pulled this scheme together. But back in those days as we probably all remember—well maybe some of the people in this House won't remember—Simeon Brown: Winston remembers well.MAUREEN PUGH: Winston Peters certainly would remember. But back in those days things weren't as tight as we needed them to be about who would actually own the assets because back in those days they simply didn't care. All they wanted to know was that when they turned the tap on they would get water. But as time moves on as we all know rules change. There are risks and responsibilities that need to be owned and so here we are today. So I commend the community on the Otama Rural Water Supply for getting this process through the system and I imagine that some of them are at home now wondering why it has taken over nine months for it to work its way through the system. The parliamentary machine probably does look a little bit tardy but simply there is no opposition to this bill and unbeknown to them it could take an awful lot longer—as some bills have had to—to work its way through this House. But the end is in sight for the community and today we will see this legislation in place and see the assets transferred to Otama Rural Water Ltd. I would just like to make a note about local bills. I'm a very firm supporter of them as a mechanism for working through local issues and I certainly look forward to more of them coming into the House. As we heard today the Gore District Council has maintained these assets and taken care of the day-to-day operations of this particular scheme but the governance of the scheme has sat with the community the user group. So when it came time to sort it all out my good friend and former colleague Mayor Tracy Hicks and his councillors at the Gore District Council pulled together this process that we're working through and finalising today and they consulted with their community as is required by the Local Government Act 2002. But the reason that we have this bill in front of us is because under the Local Government Act a council can only divest a water scheme if there are fewer than 200 users on that scheme and of course the Otama Rural Water Supply scheme has more than 200 users. So that is why it has required this special legislation: to support the transfer back to the community.One thing I would like to note about this particular local bill is that we are talking not about the water but about the reticulation assets. I also note the comment from my colleague Kanwaljit Bakshi who talked about the permanent boil-water notice. For some city folk that may seem quite an onerous task but for us that live in the rural areas we don't bother boiling the water; that's just real water to us. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): If you would just give us a moment gentlemen we're just trying to sort out if this is a split call. It isn't normally with a local bill. Just bear with us for a second. We might need to put some leave for that to occur just a second—just hold your horses. Can I just check with the Labour member whether he would be prepared to split the call with the ACT member?Paul Eagle: Yep.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): OK. David Seymour—five minutes.