Auditor General Concerned About Liability in Three Waters Plan

The Auditor General says the government’s legislation for: Three Waters reform there is a risk that important checks and balances are removed, leaving the new water entities to operate without proper public accountability.

John Ryan, the Auditor and Auditor General, wrote to Parliament that the legislation “could have a negative impact on public accountability, transparency and organizational performance”.

The Auditor General, an independent office of parliament that oversees the government, released its entry on the Water Services Entities Bill on Monday. The submission raised concerns about how the entities would be held accountable for providing drinking water and managing the storm and wastewater systems.

READ MORE:
* Three Waters proposal ‘bureaucratic’ and unclear, says mayor
* Updated Three Waters Pack Still Causes Major Concerns For Waikato Leaders
* Government Accepts Three Waters Recommendations, Boards Have Shareholding, Co-Governance Aspects Remain

National Party local government spokesman Simon Watts said the report was “scathing” and should encourage the government to halt its reforms.

National Revolts Against Three Waters Reform, Promising: delete the whole system if elected next year.

Watts said the Auditor General’s report revealed clear shortcomings in the government’s legislation, which he said should have been abundantly clear to the government, given that it has taken four years to get this far.

“This legislation is poorly thought out, poorly drafted and not well thought out. It raises important issues regarding performance reporting, accountability and transparency,” he said.

Infrastructure Secretary Grant Robertson said the government would take the Auditor General’s report seriously, but he disagreed that the bill would reduce public accountability for water infrastructure.

“Our goal is for these entities to be accountable to their communities, and we will have that through the representative groups that appoint members of the board of directors and prepare the performance expectation documents. Undoubtedly, all local authorities involved will have significant say and influence,” he said.

But the Court also expressed concerns about the representative groups and the boards of the water entities, as they seemed to have overlapping responsibilities and their individual roles were not always clear.

the government Three Waters plan would see all of the country’s drinking, waste and storm water managed by four new entities – rather than individual councils.

Under the new system, which will start in 2024, municipalities across the country are expected to work with mana whenua and municipalities in their region on representative groups.

Those representative groups would appoint members for four new water boards.

The Court of Audit states that these measures are not sufficient to maintain the public accountability of the water entities.

“Water service entities cannot be held accountable by taxpayers like local authorities, nor can they be held accountable by Parliament because they are not Crown entities, making direct accountability to their respective communities more important,” he said.

“I’m concerned whether these mechanisms will be enough.”

The reforms of the Three Waters have dealt with heavy criticism from many local councils and the National Party, to take the infrastructure out of the control of local councils and put it into new entities.

Watts said he would call for a review of the Auditor General’s submission before a select committee, and ask for a briefing.