Remember how Labour’s 3 Waters was being set up to limit cost increases WHILE settling the issue of Māori ownership of the water?
Remember how astro-turf right wing activist groups convinced you that it was all about da Māaaaaaaaaaaaoris stealing da water’ and you all believed them?
Remember how National killed off 3 Waters and created their own version that will pass the costs directly onto you?
Yeah, well, get used to higher water costs now rednecks…
‘People will lose their homes’: Deep pockets needed for water reform
South Wairarapa and Carterton households could be faced with an average water bill of $7000 by 2035 if Wairarapa councils go solo for transformational water reform.
This would be in addition to the rates charged by councils to fulfil other local government functions.
In Masterton, the average water bill could reach $3000, and Tararua, $5000, if councils did not partner up.
At a joint Carterton and South Wairarapa council workshop on Thursday, elected members were told that if councils joined forces, customers would have lower bills.
As a combined “Wai+T” (Wairarapa plus Tararua) entity, the projected average annual water bill would be just over $5000 in South Wairarapa and Carterton, $2000 in Masterton, and $4000 in Tararua by 2035.
..suck it up Crackers.
You were played.
The easiest way to manipulate a white Kiwi is tell them a Māori is getting something they aren’t.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
Someone has to pay for the water infrastructure- and there are only three choices:
Rates, water meters/charges, or taxes.
Won’t make much difference which way is chosen.
Ada, cheaper under a 3 waters scenario redneck what part of the equation of cheaper don’t baldheads like you understand?
How exactly was the water infrastructure under Three Waters going to be cheaper?
Cheaper borrowing under the Government-backed entities and those loans paid off with water charges? No guarantee that would be cheaper than a council being a grown-up and installing water meters and charging for the infrastructure that way.
Rubbish.
Some set ups have parasitic shareholders demanding returns, others don’t.
Systems matter.
Still floating the prospect of privatisation, Richard?
I’d worry about that when someone actually proposes it.
Absolutely correct @ R.C. That’s precisely why democracies must keep private greed well away from public enterprise. It’s chilling to see that so few people understand that. 40 years of rogers neo-liberalism has taken a dire toll. But hey! 14 multi-billionaires, 3118 multi-millionaires and four now australian owned banks asb, anz, bnz and westpac are taking $180.00 a second 24/7/365 in net profits from us making them the second most profitable bankers in the world is something I suppose. ( eye roll)
Labour’s 3 Water was not accepted by any of the other parties for different reasons Of the 67 councils it was not acceptable to most .. In Chch we were set to lose control of a billion dollar asset and an unelected Maori group were to be included in its running. Water control does need fixing but Labour’s idea was not the way to do it
Trouble is Trevor young boy we will never know how Labours policy would have worked out and guessing isn’t an answer.
“The easiest way to manipulate a white Kiwi is tell them a Māori is getting something they aren’t.”
Martyns above comment was spot and you confirmed it Trevor albeit you’re not a kiwi.
rubbish more redneck BS lies
Do a bit of research trev ajority of councils were keen to get on with 3 waters apart from councils like we have in Waitomo which are white controlled and the pommy prick who represents the white ward where I live is straight out a racist white cunt .The last government gave us 5 million for 3 waters which was spent on nice things for the white population like a car park for a cafe so the customers did not get their feet wet .How do you think that councils going into the open market to borrow money they can not afford is going to be cheaper than 3 waters .I already pay 2k a year for water and have been informed that we will need to spend millions more on new water pipes .
If it will cost, let’s say, “100 billion dollars” to fix our aging and long neglected 3water infrastructure in all the towns and cities in NZ then it is going to cost “100 billion dollars” regardless of whether each town does it themselves or it was done under 3 Waters. The cost is what the cost is.
The only difference in total cost is the interest paid on the money borrowed with the government claiming it can borrow money cheaper than councils.
The other main difference was that 3Waters took local community assets and gifted ownership of and control over them to three national entities comprising Wellington bureaucrats and Iwi elites.
For decades Councils have forgotten their core reasons for existing. Roads
Rubbish. 3Waters
Everything else is vanity. And for decades neither we the people nor the auditors from central government have said to Councils “why are some of your water pipes 100 years old, shouldn’t you fo something about that”
So this problem has nothing to do with Crackers and Maori. The years of neglect have caught up to us. Some people and some Councils haven’t yet realized that the party is over.
got proof?
Got proof of what step hen
Step Hen. Ba ha !
Great summary.
I’d only add that every local councillor is a POLITICIAN first and foremost, and those people don’t like to face reality.
The big problem is we all voted for the lying person who said they would not increase rates only to find their secret agenda was a new pool or some other waste of money .They never invested in new water pipes or repairs .Always the focus was on building monuments to self .
Boil water notices continue, Wellington streets explode in showers of shit and water fountains, 3 waters infrastructure is in a dire state in many Council Districts. The result of the right winning the narrative on 3 waters is large Rates increases around the country and crumbing pipes and treatment facilities that still need urgent attention and are a threat to health.
There are three options:
1. We don’t fix our utilities and suffer the health consequences.
2. We fix our utilities using borrowed money.
3. We put up the rates to pay for it.
In reality it’s going to be a blend of each: rates increases, some borrowing and a lot of deferred work due to higher priorities elsewhere.
The key to success is adopting the Watercare model where every user gets a water meter and pays based on usage, and that revenue is ring fenced for maintenance so that councils can’t waste it on bike paths, speed bumps and bucket fountains.
Water meters are necessary for every council.
People pay for usage, use a lot of water then you pay more than your neighbour who uses less.
Makes sense and cuts water usage down for the individual household when you are actually paying for it’s usage.
No different than not leaving every light in the house on when some rooms are empty, you are paying for the electricity and mindful of wastage, same concept.
You are correct in suggesting water meters in Chch even the mayor found he had an enormous leak on his property wasting thousands of liters of water . As a nation we are wasteful with water power and food much of our climate crisis could be fixed if they could be sorted
We can issue the money to fix water infrastructure ourselves, no need to borrow. Our reserve bank issues the necessary interest free credit! Like wartime this is a national emergency. But 40 years of neoliberal rubbish we no longer have the will or means to. Or even know how to.
All the 3 water experts have arrived early pissing the bed and pissing their 2 cent opinions!
NZ has purchased water infrastructure over the past 100 years and hasn’t had overly dramatic problems about borrowing or paying for it in rates. When you have a little immigration and a little suburban development infrastructure expansion has been affordable. With over immigration suddenly heaps of additional infrastructure is required. And now rather than low cost green fields suburban infrastructure expansion we have urban densification requiring working infrastructure to be expensively worked around dug up and resized. Immigrants could be charged a fee for the infrastructure bill created.
Funding can come from money printing, govt borrowing, local body bonds, rates, user charges, developer charges, immigration charges.
I never understood why 3 waters was going to help any of this by transferring a council asset to an iwi asset. Just seemed an antidemocratic, confiscatory scheme to transfer a natural monopoly from all the local people to a small group of local people. No different to giving away a community asset to a private company in terms of who would control the revenue generated.
The only advantage of 3 waters was the likelihood water infrastructure could remain soverign and not be firesaled to International Water Inc.
3 waters was never going to be an IWI asset .When you find the clause in the proposed legislation to prove me wrong let me know .You are not alone in being sucked into that right wing lie .And if you and the others like you had been paying attention we would be well on the way to fixing this situation.
You make a good point about the cost of infill housing.
The cost of relaying sewers is astronomical and very difficult. So much so that it is less expensive to build new suburbs on the fringes of cities. It’s a problem created by local government refusing to release land for development.
Almost double the national population over a generation and a half via immigration, close eyes to burden on aging infrastructure, convert nation to a low wage economy, gut or privatise governmental agencies and ministries responsible for its planning and management and construction : and this is where one arrives.
This is about neoliberalism, not iwi.
100% agree ,iwi have never been the cause of this shit .
Something odd about getting Mahuta to carry the can for water reforms. A problem in the making and one Chippy admitted. Why. Did. They. Do .it. that. Way.??? Fucked the policy from the start considering how racist NZ councils are. Stupid. Mahuta is now no longer in parliament. Good on the rangitahi tho.