Court Simon; McAnulty KieranSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Chair. Minister I'd like to ask some questions about the amendments to the purpose and content of the Government policy statement which is clause 13 of this bill which amends section 133 of the primary legislation. Minister the purpose and content of the Government policy statement for water services states the Government's overall direction and priorities for water services and informs and guides agencies involved and the activities necessary or desirable for water services. And Minister if we look at section 133(3)(a)(viii) what this does is it inserts a requirement to consider geographical averaging of residential water supply and residential wastewater service prices across each … entity's area"; (ix) "redressing historic service inequities"; and (x)—or 10 if you translate it from Roman Latin into English—"overall direction and priorities for charging arrangements for water services". Now Minister given that there are so many different arrangements now that councils have for charging for water services and infrastructure connections I'm interested in what direction and priorities this Minister might have for water service entities on the day that this bill is passed. Because for example in Auckland we've had water meters since the 1990s. So if you are using a hose to wash the car or you are watering your garden at the height of summer you can hear the whirring clicking sound of the meter outside your property as it spins and records the volume of water that you're using. And if you are conscientious about using less water because you have to pay for each cubic metre and you want to keep your water bill down you might check it in the morning and then go back and check it in the afternoon to work out how much water you've used. Well what that means is that Auckland has the lowest consumption per household of water of any region in the country because water is metered. And then we compare that to Wellington Minister Wellington City Council which meters businesses but not households and has amongst the highest losses of potable water from its water supply network of any city in New Zealand. Estimated up to 30 percent of the drinking water that is treated and supplied to residential customers in Wellington ends up running down the road. I've had that experience myself when I first came to Wellington as a new MP in 2020; identifying water running down the road and putting my hands down to sample that water and discovering that it reeked of chlorine. Well at least the water's being treated here in Wellington. But Minister what does that tell you? The overall direction and priorities for charging arrangements are all over the place currently. So how would this Government how would a Minister how would a Government policy statement—that this Minister might sign off on in his role as local government Minister or Minister responsible for water service entities—give direction and priorities for charging arrangements? Would it do the rational thing and insist that every customer has a meter and that every customer pays a volumetric charge? Or would the Minister be satisfied with the status quo where most of New Zealand is unmetered? Most New Zealand households and businesses have no idea whether the water they're using is going to result in increased cost and of course the flow through to that is that cities like Wellington potentially have to build a whole lot more water storage and distribution because a third of it is running down the road.So Minister what would this Government's priorities be for charging arrangements for water services in terms of this proposed amendment to the primary legislation?Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister of Local Government): I have some more information for Ms Grigg: section 217 ensures that entities can take the action they need to immediately deal with emergencies. And so I think that's important be they in the West Coast Canterbury or wherever that when there is a natural disaster they have the ability to just get on and fix it. But also clause 220(2A) landowners will not be responsible for impairments caused to a stormwater network that are caused by a natural disaster or emergency so that falls to the entities. So I think that's an important point and useful information.In regards to Mr Court's comments the Government policy statement is not a direction to an entity. While the bill enables water entities to charge through meters it does not mandate that. This is up to entities and the councils that feed into it. We felt that was appropriate particularly given the points that have been raised by that member and others around ensuring that local voices are heard."