Borrows Chester: South Taranaki District Council (Cold Creek Rural Water Supply) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Borrows Chester: South Taranaki District Council (Cold Creek Rural Water Supply) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2012. Volume:678;Page:1194. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity. I would like to just reiterate a number of points quite quickly that have been raised in the course of the first reading of the South Taranaki District Council (Cold Creek Rural Water Supply) Bill. The first is to make quite plainly the statement that this is about alkathene pipes and concrete. It is not about water. It is not about the mauri of the stream from which the water is taken. In the same way that the residents and shareholders of the company that administers maintains and pays for the Cold Creek scheme at the moment apply for a water right from Taranaki Regional Council they would need to continue to do that. 
I understand that the bill has to go to the select committee at least support from across the House apart from the Maori Party who will be voting against it on a basis of philosophy around the consultation in respect of South Taranaki District Council and I can respect the stance that it takes. However it is important to note that this is not about the Treaty claims process. The fact that the South Taranaki District Council now holds the legal title for this claim is really about where the scheme was vested at the time that it was constructed by the hands of the farmers with the dollar of the farmers with the dollar for dollar taxpayer subsidy scheme. In fact questions were raised by for instance the Hon Annette King in respect of further calls for maintenance money and replacement money from the taxpayer or the ratepayer. That is actually in the history of the scheme itself in that it was constructed by the farmers who were building it and who wanted it at the time. The reason of course that it was done was for productivity and the taxpayers’ contribution at the time—as previously mentioned dollar for dollar—has been paid back manyfold by that increase in productivity and the taxation that has been paid on that. 
As I also said in my initiating speech the South Taranaki District Council cannot find a single cent of ratepayer money that was paid in the construction maintenance repair or administration of this scheme. Every dollar that has been paid has come from money generated by the administration and the running of the fees and the charges charged. 
The point was made about the low cost of water per cubic metre from this scheme. It is about 35c. It is not the lowest in the South Taranaki region but it is lower than other schemes. The fact is that the South Taranaki District Council having said that that cost would have to go up was speaking in respect of costs of other schemes and the maintenance and administration of other schemes if the South Taranaki District Council maintained administration rights which of course it does not have. 
So we end up in a situation where the farmers of a particular area in South Taranaki built themselves a scheme using a Government subsidy that was constructed for the purpose funnily enough under a Labour Government. Now what they want to do is to actually own the legal title of that scheme in its entirety albeit that they do have property rights and they do hold legal ownership of part of that scheme. Because it came at considerable cost to them—it was not only with their money but also with their sweat and their energy that they constructed the scheme—they would like to have complete ownership of it. South Taranaki District Council has voted four times over the last 12 years to effect exactly that. We find ourselves now in a situation in need of a local bill because of the course of history and the introduction of the Local Government Act 2002. I look forward to the support of the House and the debate through the select committee process. Thank you.