Halbert ShananSHANAN HALBERT (Labour—Northcote): Thank you Madam Speaker. This is a very robust debate in the Chamber tonight: a debate from those who are taking us forward and a debate about those who are taking us backwards; those that have a plan and those that don't have plan; those that want to protect our public assets and those that want to privatise our public assets.Every organisation every person every iwi and hapū in their submission acknowledged the need for water reform. Government and councils agreed alike that something needs to be done to keep our water costs low. And to me New Zealand is a place where our infrastructure stacks up where partnership with Māori is valued; where our beaches on the North Shore have remained free from contamination; where families from Kaikohe in the North to the East Coast have clean drinking water; where Governments of this House are planning and delivering better environmental outcomes. At a time when cost of living pressures are real these changes are in front of us and will provide affordable solutions to ratepayers to fund infrastructure now and into our future.Auckland households cannot sustain increasing costs on top of the 7 percent increase that Auckland ratepayers experienced this year and that is why this bill is so important. It will ensure ratepayers aren't out of pocket. It will upgrade failing pipes and water infrastructure and it will ensure safe drinking water for everyone. This bill establishes four publicly owned water entities to deliver more cost-effective safe reliable and efficient water services from 1 July 2024 through improved investment and management.Our Finance and Expenditure Committee which I'm proud to be a part of went across the country despite National doing their best to not go out to the regions to hear the voices of our communities. They held off five days—five days before the Opposition agreed to go and see the communities out in the regions. Eighty-eight thousand submissions; that's a lot of submissions. If I just speak to a point that came up before that this side of the House didn't want to hear those submissions. It is common and I refer back as the chair of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee that it was Simeon Brown last week that asked not to hear submissions. It is a common practice that sometimes the committee can agree on.Our people and communities have clearly demanded a local voice transparency accountability and good localised services and we must deliver that. But they do not accept—they do not accept—status quo and poor water infrastructure in this country. The select committee has done the hard yards. The select committee has gone through hearing as many submissions as possible. The voice of New Zealand Aotearoa has been heard and this has equated to 130 changes in this bill—130 changes. That is significant—130 changes as a result of community voice to this bill—and we're only halfway through processing this piece of legislation in the House.I want to go through it. We heard this public feedback. We heard it on public ownership. We've heard it on the balance sheet. We've heard it on good governance. We've heard it on Treaty partnership. It is now time to get on with the job and deliver for New Zealanders. Some of these changes I'll go through. The cap on the number of regional representatives on the regional representative group has been removed. The committee increased audit scrutiny over key strategic documents like reports from the Office of the Auditor-General. The regional representative groups are now required to have rural provincial and metropolitan council representatives which was a request from councils.The committee updated the definition of Te Mana o te Wai" to include coastal and geothermal water as was originally recommended by the Working Group on Representation Governance and Accountability of new Water Services Entities. The committee also clarified mana whenua whose interest within the entity boundary is recognised in settlement legislation and can issue a Te Mana o te Wai statement in addition to mana whenua whose rohe or takiwā is in an entity's service area. That was a significant change that we heard directly from mana whenua at the table and mana whenua that presented alongside their councils.The entity objectives have been updated to clarify the role of the entities in the planning process and their relationship to council planning functions by noting their role is to support and enable planning and growth. The committee amended the operating principles to include a requirement for the entities to have regard to the areas where services are delivered in their procurement processes and ensure there is an understanding of the local cultural and environmental factors where the services themselves are delivered. The committee has added to the collective competencies of the board. This includes public health the environment perspectives of consumers and communities and the perspectives of our local government councils. Contracts and joint arrangements relating to water services have been limited to a 15-year term rather than a 35-year term which is the maximum term specified in the Local Government Act.So just to close off there change isn't easy. Sometimes change is necessary. This bill is about delivering for our future generations delivering for our families to ensure that they have the best quality drinking water available to them. But what we need to do as a responsible Government as a responsible Parliament is to ensure that we enable investment in the best infrastructure to make that happen. That is about all of us; that is about this House; that is about our councils; that is about our communities; and that is about mana whenua. So without further ado I want to speak to the opposite side of the House. I've got two minutes 30 seconds to go and you will hear it.Simon Watts: Give him another five!SHANAN HALBERT: It's important. Those of you—I can ask for another five. The important thing here is we all agree on the problem. Our water infrastructure isn't up to scratch. So for you here for you at home if you don't like what's on the table come up with an alternative. You didn't. You don't have a plan.Hon Member: Let me go! Let me go!ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Order! Order! That's just about enough of the shouting going on in here so I think we might just calm things a tad and I'll ask the member not to bring the Speaker into the debate.SHANAN HALBERT: Thank you Madam Speaker. Just to close off investment in our water infrastructure is important for our future generations. Collectively investment in water infrastructure is important for our future generations. This robust debate in the House isn't about ownership. It isn't about assets. It's about water and ensuring that we make the best decisions for future generations. I'm proud of the plan that this Government has come up with in the absence of a plan across the room. I challenge everyone to scrutinise the Opposition and their lack of a plan. Come up with something better but you can't sit there and moan and groan and not deliver for New Zealanders. This side of the House is and we're getting on with doing that.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Nicola Grigg—five minutes."