Auditor-General sounds alarm over Three Waters bill

The submission by the Auditor-General on the Government’s proposed “reform” of Three Waters is a must read. It gets to the heart of the problems with what the Government is doing, which is a loss of accountability. Some extracts:

WSEs cannot be held to account by ratepayers like local authorities are, nor can they be held accountable by Parliament because they are not Crown entities

So they won’t be accountable to ratepayers or taxpayers.

I consider this to be a serious diminution in accountability to the public for a critical service.

A serious diminution in accountability!

Overall, I am concerned that, as currently drafted in the Bill, the accountability arrangements and potential governance weaknesses, combined with the diminution in independent assurance noted earlier, could have an adverse effect on public accountability, transparency, and organisational performance.

So the Auditor-General thinks the reforms will result in weak governance, diminished independent assurance and adversely impact accountability and transparency.

Of course from the Government’s point of view, diminished accountability and transparency might be a feature, not a bug!