Catching up with Dan
The Waimakariri Mayor updates us.
Happy New Year everyone. I’m sure by now most of us are back to work and holding on to the memories of our summer holidays. I have enjoyed spending a quiet time around Waimakariri. We are fortunate to have everything we need on our doorstep. It has also been a good time to prepare for the year ahead which is going to be busy.
One of the first items on my agenda is to continue advocating for a better outcome from the Government’s mandated Three Waters Reform.
The Government’s model creates four large water companies that will take over all the $60-billion of water assets built and paid for by generations of New Zealand ratepayers. These will become four of the largest companies in New Zealand, rivalling Fonterra in size.
This asset grab takes all the rights of property ownership from the current owners and gives them to the water companies – removing community say over how our water assets are used to achieve health and environmental goals.
Waimakariri District Council is one of the founding members of a new group called Communities 4 Local Democracy – He hapori mō Manapori, which is committed to advocating for a better reform outcome for New Zealanders than is currently mandated. I am the Deputy Chair of this group.
We are made up of 24 councils and counting, and represent more than a million New Zealanders – from large metropolitan to small rural areas. We are an action group committed to fresh ideas for better water.
We launched in December in Wellington and formally presented our collective opposition to the mandated four entity model of Three Waters Reform to the Government’s Working Group on Representation Governance and Accountability (RGAWG), Opposition political parties and the Minister of Local Government, the Hon Nanaia Mahuta herself.
Following these constructive meetings, we have been invited to present our alternative models to the RGAWG, and to the Minister, which is encouraging.
We have been working with international consulting firm Castalia to develop alternative models. We will present these to the RGWAG in late January and to the Government in February. Following these presentations we will then release our findings publicly so there is true transparency about alternatives that will better serve New Zealand in the long term.
I will make sure to keep you posted on our progress and key milestones as we continue the campaign.
There’s a lot more on the Council’s work programme this year, including preparation of our draft Annual Plan which will come out to you for your views in March. I am looking forward to the year ahead. As always, I welcome contact from anyone who needs assistance or has an issue that you may want to discuss. Email me at dan.gordon@wmk.govt.nz or phone 021 906 437. I’m here to help.
Written by
Dan Gordon
