Profit from our water? I have fought many battles over the last 20 years against the proponents of privatising water assets and their operation in our city and across the region. The key issue is that water is our most basic requirement and I strongly believe it needs to be kept at as low a price as possible. To do this we should not be trying to profit from its sale. We need to price our water to cover the cost of buying it, supplying it and maintaining all the pipes. Simple!

Well, rust never sleeps and neither does the “more-market” lobby. The regional governance restructure model includes a proposal to legislate to make Watercare pay a dividend to its Council owners. Watercare is already proposing a double digit increase for its water and wastewater services for the 2008 year. This is to cover the need to fully fund depreciation. Manukau Water does not fully fund depreciation and there is no reason for Watercare to do so. In my view the drive to go for dividends from this company, together with the proposed increases in 2008 is wrong, undesirable and inappropriate.

Auckland City, in need of a financial fix?
With talk of Auckland City trying to lever Stormwater money out of ARC assets and from the newly announced petrol levy, it is evident that our northern neighbour is strapped for cash to carry out its long overdue major stormwater up-grades. All of our cities are straining to broaden their revenue base and I am pleased that Manukau City Council has never sold any of our airport shares. This means that we now supplement our income by $8-9m per annum.

The present ownership structure of Watercare is a good one. Watercare is owned and run by our councils via a board. I don’t want it further corporatised because I don’t trust the agendas of those who would be tasked with looking after it. If you take United Water in Papakura as an example, you can see the effect of driving profit out of the business, skyrocketing prices and corresponding leaps in directors’ fees and administration costs.

Our monopoly Water is a primary public monopoly shared by all of us. We gave away the power monopoly some time ago and we are still paying for the resulting shambles throughout the region. I do not want to see any more mucking around with our city assets or regional water assets. We can continue to deliver strong commercial management but more importantly we need to keep water and wastewater service costs to as low and affordable level as we can for the people of our city.

Ken of Wiri I attended a great cottage meeting in Wiri during the week. We were having an interesting debate on a whole range of topics but there was one guy, Ken, who seemed to be just busting to get into the discussion but was hesitant and shy. He finally got launched into the debate and opened up by saying that this (political discussion) “wasn’t his bag”. What he ended up saying was that he didn’t normally get to talk to people who were standing for political office such as the mayoralty and he wasn’t sure of the “etiquette”.

He said he once saw Sir Barry at Hayman Park on Waitangi Day but didn’t know whether it was the right “etiquette” to go up, shake his hand and say, gidday. By the end of the night Ken had well and truly sorted out this hesitancy and he had a lot to say that was worth listening to.

I know there are plenty of people out there like Ken, a bit wary of someone like the mayor of the city. To achieve the changes we need in our communities over the next 10/15 years, the only etiquette that I will encourage in our city is an open door, a ready smile, a song or two and sleeves rolled up. I don’t want any barriers between Ken and me, or any of us for that matter.

Len Brown,

Mayoral Candidate, Manukau City,2007.

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