“Today’s Three Waters announcement, amidst the controversy of the slow covid vaccine rollout and lockdown restrictions, is a blatant grab for unrestrained and unbridled political power,” says Winston Peters Leader of New Zealand First.

“It represents a giant lurch towards a central government takeover of local government and ratepayer’s assets.”

“Most sinister is the covert objective of race-based co-governance without any mandate from the New Zealand people.” 

“It is an attempt to totally ignore sixty local bodies and their ratepayers - the Auckland Super City being the most naked example.”

“Furthermore, it clearly represents a breach of the Public Finance Act - with the government smugly claiming to be able to handle all of this new debt without any provisions of indemnity.”

“New Zealand’s infrastructural water problems will not be solved by divisive separatist nonsense or utterly impractical policies.  New Zealanders will have to pay for these decisions over many generations if this government’s approach is not stopped right here, right now” says Mr Peters.

“How many inept pie-in-the-sky policies are we expected to continually put up with - Kiwibuild, Auckland’s light rail, and cycle bridge to nowhere, the current mess our mental health and education systems are currently in - to mention but a few.”