The scene from Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers where Gromit lays out the train track while hurtling down the line. Photo: Screenshot / Aardman
A Hamilton councillor says the government's Local Government Water Services Bill has failed at providing local authorities with any certainty when it comes to water, and left them feeling like an animated dog.
The Bill makes no mention of the Waikato River Settlement or its strategy for protecting the awa Te Ture Whaimana, and councillor Louise Hutt says the Bill appears to take precedence over Treaty settlements.
Hutt told a council meeting today the situation was frustrating.
"Have you seen that scene in Wallace and Gromit, where Gromit's laying the track in front of him as fast as he can because he's also on the train? We're Gromit. And that makes the government the evil penguin.
"And the fact that the government has also put nothing towards helping the country understand these changes and why they're happening is just the icing on the cake."
Decades of under-investment by councils in water services was to be replaced by Labour's Three Waters, but now the government is implementing Local Water Done Well, with a requirement for councils to show they're responding to the much-needed increase in investment with a Water Services Delivery Plan by September this year.
The Bill - which had its first reading on 17 December - is the final of three with the previous two repealing Three Waters legislation and establishing preliminary arrangements for the new water services system.
All but one councillor today voted to send a submission to the government outlining support for the Bill but with concern at several parts, including that it makes no mention of Te Ture Whaimana or Waikato-Tainui's river settlement.
Instead the Bill presented three new national standards in engineering design, and wastewater and stormwater environmental, without detail.
Hutt asked if meeting a lower water quality standard would make the council complicit in a breach of the Waikato River Settlement and said she didn't get a "yes or no".
"I think we need to be really careful about the lack of certainty in front of us and being put in the middle of a really, really messy scenario.
"If we honour the partnership and relationship we have with Waikato-Tainui then why would we support over-riding their settlement?
"If we truly believe that they are mana whenua and that the Waikato awa is a sacred taonga, why would we support over-riding their settlement?"
She said the submission was staunch.
"This is about respecting our partners, about upholding the mana of our relationship and taking up opportunities to uphold Te Tiriti."
But councillor Geoff Taylor disagreed, suggesting the council should be open to the notion of new national water quality standards.
"We are saying in our submission it can't cut across the Treaty settlement.
"If the government did find a way to actually sit down with Tainui, and make some changes, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for this community.
"Waikato has among the toughest standards in the country and hence the biggest costs imposed on its residents as well as it being an inhibitor to development."
Taylor said the council had a responsibility to its community.
"For everyone who wants the wonderful clean, gold-plated standards for the river, there are also people struggling to pay the rates and the costs of this, which we are handing down to them."
When put to the vote, Taylor went against the submission but the motion was carried 11 to one.
The comments would now be sent to the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee by 23 February when submissions close.
RNZ has sought comment from new Local Government Minister Simon Watts.
Hamilton's submission recommends the Select Committee reword the framework so it "appropriately recognises the commitment the Crown has made through Treaty Settlements" and does not undermine the Waikato River Settlement and Te Ture Whaimana.
It also recommended the framework for any new standards required the decision-makers developing or approving them to ensure they were proportionate, practical and affordable, and the benefits outweighed the costs of implementing them.
Waikato River Authority chief executive Antoine Coffin earlier told RNZ the thrust of the Bill was good because it enabled councils to establish council-controlled organisations (CCOs) to manage water services.
However, he said the new national standards took a "one-size fits all" approach and the language should be consistent with Treaty settlements.
Meanwhile deputy mayor Angela O'Leary said the way the council was being required by government to consult on the changes was flawed.
O'Leary said it seemed disingenuous to present the public with two options for the future management of water, when the council knew the second option of the status quo was not viable.
But she was told the government required the council to consult on at least two options, with one the status quo.
Late last year the council agreed to establish a CCO together with Waikato District Council to manage the three waters, and this would be its preferred option in public consultation.
Councillor Ewan Wilson pointed out the fact the CCO would come at a higher cost to ratepayers for the first nine years was not in the consultation document.
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