Whakatāne District Mayor Judy Turner says she was not surprised by the announcement that the Government will continue its Three Waters Reform programme.
"The Government signal, that reform in this area was a priority, never wavered. I think we can be heartened that the deep concern that we expressed to Minister Mahuta, about aspects of the reform model, have largely been listened to.
For example, we suggested that concerns we had around representation, accountability to our ratepayers and maintaining a local voice in the provision of services could be addressed by establishing a working party to refine the governance structure for the water service entities. That will be done. We also raised concern about rural water supplies and how the Three Waters Reform aligned with other Government Reforms and it provides a level of comfort that the Minister announced that technical working parties will also be set up to look closer at those issues."
"While there were many areas of the proposed reform model that gave us concern, we did agree that ultimately the nation-wide affordability challenge in the water space needs to be addressed. I believe Whakatāne District Council over the years has been a good steward of our Three Waters infrastructure, yet we are still facing unsustainable future costs without reform."
"I'd like to thank again all those people who gave feedback to Council, that we also provided to the Minister. There will be many who on the face of it will be disappointed by yesterday's announcement.
To you, I suggest that there is a legislative process to go through, and while it's clear that reform will proceed, there is still the opportunity to influence further refinements through select committee submissions in due course."
"Council will now take the time to understand the finer points of today’s announcements and plan what the next steps will be how we can continue to advocate for the best outcome for our staff, communities and organisation," Mayor Turner concludes.