Mahuta NanaiaHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Local Government): Mr Chair I'll give the member the courtesy of a considered response. There were a number of issues that you did raise in your contribution. Firstly it's a little bit clearer to understand the position of ACT unlike members on this side of the House. At least ACT's been really clear. Fundamentally they don't like the premise of this approach to reform because at the heart of it is a public model of water service delivery where we do not support privatisation. I've heard the member in this House say many times what your particular position is and there has been a privatisation element to it which this Government does not support.Secondly let me come to the issue that the member referred to in relation to written questions when he asked What rights do Māori have in three water assets?" Māori themselves have said they are quite happy with councils continuing to own the water network and that's clearly set out in the bill. Councils will clearly continue to own their current interests in the water network which is debt and liability and that will sit alongside other councils within the make-up of their entity—and iwi do not want to have an interest in that. In fact councils can retain that particular interest and that is why within the substance of the bill a shareholding interest for councils only will remain.The other element to the question—because there were lots of legs to the question that the member asked—was it's not clear what the regulatory environment is for water and that's because the regulatory aspects or features of the system do not sit within the Water Services Entities Bill. We established Taumata Arowai to set drinking water standards and the regulatory framework that will fall from that and oversight over waste water and stormwater to ensure that features informing the regulatory environment could be better understood. Also we made very clear in so far as discharges back to receiving environments that regional councils will retain the regulatory function for waste water and stormwater.But let me then arrive at why we thought it was important to bring forward the definition of Te Mana o te Wai that was defined in 2014 with the interests of a range of stakeholders in mind including the farming community. If we ensure that the concept and approach to looking after water from source protection to its full use—whether it be for drinking or irrigation or food production and things like that—and back to the way in which we return water back into the receiving environment in fact the Te Mana o te Wai definition makes absolute sense when we think about source protection and discharging back into the natural environment albeit water bodies. And that is why we're taking this approach forward.The other thing is that in so far as the concerns that the member raises around wellbeing economic developments utilisation of water beyond drinking water I think the select committee fully considered all those aspects and clarified through the definition in the bill how that can be given account of.The last thing I'll come back to is I greatly do appreciate although I am extending beyond Part 1 the fact that the Finance and Expenditure Committee really were at pains to ensure that in the definition aspects of the bill they went through and better clarified what was meant on a number of fronts. And I just in a light touch highlight for example the importance of further refining the waste-water network and giving definition there of what a water services infrastructure water supply network means within the context of the legislation even to the extent where there was greater clarification on definitions around the stormwater network and the green stormwater infrastructure. I appreciate the valuable additions in Part 1 of the bill to better clarify what we are talking about.Now this debate will go all over the show if we don't come back to the core premise. Ultimately we need to find a way to sustainably fund investment in water infrastructure to underpin regional growth to enable local voice and prioritisation of how that happens for better drinking and environmental outcomes through a public model of service delivery. That's what this bill is about."