Andrew Dickens: Co-governance should be the least of your worries

Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Friday saw the committee charged with reviewing public submissions on the Three Waters water reform return their recommendations.

Changes to co-governance was not in their list of suggestions

It beggars belief that out of the 88,000 New Zealanders that bothered to make their voices heard that co-governance wasn't high on the list of concerns.

But as I said on the Friday drive show, the lady is not for turning. Co-governance appears to be a hill that this Labour Government is prepared to die on.

But as I also said on Friday, co-governance should be the least of your worries if you're concerned with creeping socialism.

The Three Waters reform suggested is property theft and that's the reason that Phil Goff was against it and had to be bought off.

This Government wants to seize assets paid for by ratepayers, amalgamate them and then borrow off them, so that funding for water stays off the Governments and Councils books. It's blatant nationalisation by a left wing government

It's like needing to do urgent repairs on the house but you have no money. So you take your neighbour's house and use it as equity to borrow money to fix your place. It's just wrong.

But this is happening because the deferred maintenance and investment has become so huge that we don't have enough money to fix it.

Meanwhile, National MP Simon Watts told TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday that the party agrees there needs to be reform, but it opposes the Government's current proposals. So Jack Tame pressed Watts pretty hard on what National’s alternative model would be. Watts said National would reveal its policy closer to the election.

Frankly that's not good enough. If Labour's dodgy scheme is the only game on the table then it will limp across the line.

And reform is needed.

Today the front page of the Wairarapa Times Age reports that close to half of all drinking water in the region is lost in leaks before it even gets to the tap. Meanwhile the region is booming with new houses.

Imagine if you went to fill up your car and only half of it made it into the tank

You wouldn't tolerate it.

It has to be fixed.

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