Goudie Sandra: Consumer Protection (Definitions of Goods and Services) Bill — In Committee 
Goudie Sandra: Consumer Protection (Definitions of Goods and Services) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:609;Page:6875] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (NZ National—Coromandel) 
: I concur with my colleagues: we do need to delay the commencement date of this bill. There are some serious questions that need to be answered here. 
One of the glaring omissions in this bill is a compliance cost report—there is not one. Absolutely no assessment has been done of what this will mean to the average ratepayer let alone the consumer. When there is a substantial submission from a body like Local Government New Zealand we do need to take some heed of that. That body is majorly concerned about the impact and this bill should be delayed until all the questions asked by Local Government New Zealand have been answered. It has asked a huge number of questions and it has not had an answer. How could it possibly get an answer when the Government cannot even include a compliance cost report in its presentation of a bill? I thought that was mandatory; maybe I am wrong. 
This is not necessarily about standards but the question of water standards has failed to be defined. A local authority has a range of different standards going from (a) to (e). In a rural area it is possible to accept a rural water supply that does not actually meet a potable water standard. The local body does not have to meet a particular standard. However if the community accepts a rural water supply for animal consumption and one consumer says “I’m sorry that is not acceptable” then that one consumer gets the opportunity to hold the rest of that community to ransom. Not only that but section 11 of the Consumer Guarantees Act states that if a consumer deems the cost of that water to be unreasonable he or she can refuse to pay. Where will that leave a local authority when it has a responsibility to the community as a whole? Its contract is with the community as a whole. The question has not been answered about which Act will prevail in that situation—the Rating Powers Act or the Consumer Guarantees Act. That question has not been answered by the Minister in the chair Judith Tizard and I think it would be good for her to answer some of the questions that have been raised by Local Government New Zealand. It is majorly concerned and that is not the only question it has raised. 
It has also looked at the costs that will be incurred as a result of this bill. I have here a paper provided by my learned colleague the Hon Tony Ryall which states: “The cost of upgrading all of the water supplies in the country has been estimated at about $750 million.” We have gone from the $400 million identified in the Local Government submission—recognising that it was $30 million for the Dunedin water supply alone—and now we are looking at an estimated cost of $750 million. Upgrading a small water supply can cost upwards of $2 million if the supply is to meet the upper range of the standards and depending on how a local authority is structured that can be a huge burden on a small community with the ones that suffer being those that are on a fixed rate. 
Those are the very reasons that it should have been explored and a compliance cost report carried out. If a report was done it should have assessed all those impacts and worked in conjunction with local government. That is one of the key reasons that the commencement date should be set way out into the future. A compliance cost report needs to be done. The Government should be working in tandem with Local Government New Zealand in assessing what this will mean to ratepayers which Act will prevail—the Rating Powers Act or the Consumer Guarantees Act—and why the water and waste-water provision is not incorporated into the Local Government Act of 2002 which has recently been passed. In my view it has been a failure on the part of the Government to adequately consult Local Government New Zealand on all those aspects and to answer its questions. 
National initially supported this bill to go to the select committee— 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: National sneers and derides at local government. 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: We hold local government in high regard and one of the reasons— 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: Ha! 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: Yes we do. Absolutely. [ 
Interruption 
]