Public submissions on the Water Services Entities Bill closed on Friday 22 July 2022. The Finance and Expenditure Committee has received 88,324 written submissions, which will now be considered by the committee.

Barbara Edmonds, Chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee, said “We would like to thank all those submitters who shared their views on the bill. We understand the proposed three waters reform is an issue that many New Zealanders care deeply about. We are now preparing to hear from submitters at meetings around the country.”

The committee has made decisions about which submitters to invite to make an oral submission, with a focus on hearing from:

· Territorial authorities

· Mana whenua

· Rural water entities

· Water sector stakeholders

· Employment representative groups

· Environmental representative groups

· Financial representative groups

· Submitters who have made specific recommendations for improving the bill.

The committee has appointed two subcommittees to hold hearings in the following locations:

· Hawke’s Bay on Monday, 15 August

· Nelson on Monday, 15 August

· Hamilton on Tuesday, 16 August

· Christchurch on Tuesday, 16 August

· Auckland on Wednesday, 17 August and Thursday, 18 August

· Dunedin on Wednesday, 17 August

The committee also intends to hold further hearings in Wellington and via videoconference on other dates in August.

Committee staff will soon begin contacting individuals and organisations that the committee has agreed to hear from. Hearings will be advertised on the Parliament website (https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/schedule-of-meetings/).

For more details about the bill:

• Read the full content of the bill
• Learn more about the bill
• What's been said in Parliament about the bill?
• Follow the committee's Facebook page for updates

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