Dean JacquiHon JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): Thank you Mr Speaker. National does support the Taumata Arowai—the Water Services Regulator Bill at its third reading. I was involved in the development of this bill through the first reading and the committee stage and then left the role of local government spokesperson and so I'm reacquainting myself with it.I think the first comment I would have on this water services regulator bill is that it simply establishes Taumata Arowai—the Water Services Regulator as it is a new Crown agent and it is true to say that the drinking-water regulator does enjoy the support of the local government sector who out of the Havelock North campylobacter incident a very serious moment in local government in New Zealand do recognise that a regulator a Crown entity will improve drinking-water regulation in New Zealand. But I'm afraid that the support really begins to become a bit more delicate and I wouldn't agree with Minister Mahuta who's just spoken on the bill that the Government's programme on three waters reform enjoys wide support as she noted from the local government sector. I don't believe it does. Pieces of legislation within the programme such as the water services regulator bill might enjoy support but I'm not so sure about the water services bill to follow. We haven't seen it yet in enough detail to comment—but certainly not the stage after that which has been signalled by the Minister as part of this programme which is to essentially provide funding as long as councils commit to amalgamation of their water services. That is where this programme I predict will get very rocky for the Government because what the Government fail to recognise through all of this is that these are not Crown assets they are considering and legislating for; these are community-owned council-owned assets under the stewardship of councils.I don't think anyone's arguing that there should not be improvement in the collective stewardship of drinking-water service but what I hear from local government is extensive disquiet that the Government has been bent for the last three years on a programme which is effectively hitting the nuclear button in taking away the control of drinking water and ultimately three waters services from local authorities under their own council-owned community-owned infrastructure and placing it as long as the council agreed to amalgamate into one of five water companies across New Zealand.I won't stray too far into that because that's a conversation for another day but I would flag to the House that the words of the Minister in her third reading speech on the Taumata Arowai—the Water Services Regulator Bill might come back to bite her in the future if she has the opportunity which I hope she doesn't to then legislate to amalgamate water services. I don't think the passage of that will come easily and I do hope that local government finds its voice and lets its feelings be known on behalf of its ratepayers on behalf of all of us who pay rates for our three waters infrastructure. And I hope it sends the message to this Government that forced amalgamation—which is what it amounts to because councils are being held over a barrel—is not acceptable. Anyway that is a conversation to come.Taumata Arowai—the Water Services Regulator is going to be a Crown agent and does enjoy the general support of local government. However also signalled by the Minister in her speech is that the water services bill gives effect to and makes decisions on implementing the nationwide reform to drinking-water services. Again it has elements that we can support but—and it's an often-used term in this House—the devil will be in the detail. I challenge the Minister to stay true to the comments she made today that she will engage with local government in a meaningful way on the next stage of this water reform because we're getting to the sharp end of this programme and there is a line—I can see the line—and I think that if it is to succeed and if it is to enjoy the support wider than one half plus a little of the House then it really does need to go out and include all of the local authorities. At the moment they have very real fears about where this whole programme is going to end up for them.For some of the smaller authorities across New Zealand cities it's a different issue. Amalgamation and a centralised regulator and regulation that comes from Taumata Arowai is not an issue for larger cities in the main because they have a greater corporate structure but if you go into provincial and rural New Zealand and if you go on to marae you are talking to the people that dug the trenches to put the water scheme in. Some of the older farmers around rural New Zealand are the ones that put the rural drinking-water scheme in and their views need to be taken into account as this Government goes through this wider programme. With those comments I commend this bill to the House.