Muller ToddTODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): Well what a great opportunity to say a few words. I believe the last National speaker on this very important bill the Taumata Arowai—the Water Services Regulator Bill. Of course what a great privilege for me to follow our former agriculture Minister and now retiring MP Nathan Guy and asking the questions of course that I will put as part of this speech—which of course I will do. But I think we're all reflecting on the obvious question that is very much front of mind for us which is: with the plethora of career options that lie in front of you which one will you choose? I think that is the No. 1 question for us on this side.Hon Nathan Guy: Yeah that's true—water bottling.TODD MULLER: I think you have heard it here first: Guy Mineral Water"—I'm sure it will go well.But there are a few serious points that I'd like to make and this is reflecting to the extent I could through the chatter from some of my colleagues and some of the average contributions from those on the other side on this particular issue. What I heard time and time again was an understandable anchoring of their conversation on the challenges of Havelock North and the requirement for this country to ensure that we have a standard that is consistent. No one argues with that but where the Government quickly finds itself in trouble is the challenge of actually making this happen and putting some numbers around it.Almost to a person tonight the Government contributors have not mentioned the costs that will ultimately need to be borne by ratepayers. Now we're not saying that the cost is not worth it but let's have an honest and open and transparent conversation around the costs that are likely to be incurred by particularly those communities that have a relatively low rating base in terms of the numbers of people and what this is going to mean from a back-pocket perspective for them. Now the numbers have been provided. The fact that the Government has not chosen to voice it I suspect reflects their perspective on this issue but to establish this new regulator will be somewhere close to $10 million over the next 18 months—Hon Member: How much?TODD MULLER: —$10 million—and then in terms of their operational delivery it will be pushing $44 million to $50 million. But actually that is just change relative to the costs that are assumed in terms of the infrastructure rebuild that is required across the communities across New Zealand and in some of the numbers that have been expected just in terms of a couple of subgroups that are identified in the regulatory impact statement it is well over half a billion and close to $695 million. This is before we have even had the conversation around the extent to which a new regulator is going to look at the water infrastructure which was already in place that may well come under pressure in terms of coastal erosion and climate change in the next 10 15 20 years and the cost of moving that.So we from a National Party perspective totally support the concept of having a regulator. We support the concept of having a conversation around how national standards should be applied but please also reflect on the opportunity for some local flexibility because if you are not careful you will force further costs on rural communities that are already buckling under the stress of having a Government who does not understand them and who is never there for them.It was fascinating the observation from my colleague Mr Guy in talking about water bottling. You could see when Mr Parker realised that he was actually being introduced into the debate and he turned from writing his Christmas cards to listening. You could see the colour drain from his face because what you did is you put out there the reality of a party that had campaigned on a promise hasn't delivered it two years in and they know they will not go to New Zealand with a water-bottling solution this side of the election—yet another example of a Government that's all talk doesn't deliver. They set the standard of a failed experiment and in one year's time we'll see the back of them. Thank you very much."