The Taxpayers’ Union says the Government’s latest pathetic attempt to bribe councils with taxpayer money as part of a new package for Three Waters doesn’t make the proposed reforms any more palatable.

Responding to the just announced additional funding of at least $350,000 to every council which the Government says will “ensure [councils will] have the resourcing necessary to implement the Three Waters reforms”, Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Union, says:

“This is desperate stuff. Along with emailing lackies begging them to submit, and relaunching a TV, print, and radio propaganda campaign, now the Government is handing out bribes in the last days before select commit submissions close on the Water Entities Bill.

“Not one cent of this will be spent on the infrastructure, nor on fixing the fundamental flaws of the Three Waters package.

“Three Waters is a recipe for higher water costs, more bureaucracy, no local control, and less democracy. The Government knows very well that only someone taking a bribe could accept the Government’s logic that Three Waters will make water ‘more affordable’ while at the same time ‘creating 9,000 new jobs’ – as Nanaia Mahuta claims.”

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