Huge Tension Around the Council Table Regarding Three Waters

The majority of Invercargill City councillors are not happy with the current Three Waters reforms, but only half would support joining a ‘breakaway’ reform group.

At today’s Infrastructural Services Committee meeting, the two votes of difference that lost the motion went to mana whenua representatives, and Evelyn Cook made it clear she actually supported the reforms.

And she said from her discussions with others around the country, the engagement from the Communities 4 Local Democracy Group with mana whenua had been “appalling,” she said.

Councillor Rebecca Amundsen said she felt that the Notice of Motion by Deputy Mayor Nobby Clark for council to join the group came with a threat of intimidation.

At the start of the meeting Nobby held her accountable by sharing a summary of recent Facebook posts, that allegedly made derogatory comments about Groundswell NZ, and discredited the group.

Groundswell has also been protesting the Three Waters reforms and had gained support from many councils around the country, to break away from Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ).

Nobby asked that Rebecca declare a conflict of interest, not participate in discussions and withdraw from voting on the motion, “as to proceed would put us at reputational risk.”

But Rebecca said she was speaking to her experiences with the Groundswell group, not just in Invercargill, but at previous meetings around the region. She didn’t believe that had any bearing on the issue she was being asked to vote on today.

The deputy chair of the Communities 4 Local Democracy group – Waimakariri District Mayor Dan Gordon, was also meant to be speaking at the Infrastructural Services meeting today, but it was sabotaged by other people.

Meeting chair Ian Pottinger said they had been bombarded by emails from people “insisting they had the right to join and speak as well.”

It was decided to cancel the speaker “as it was becoming too uncomfortable to accommodate or not accommodate people,” and easier to just keep the peace, he said.

How they voted regarding joining 31 other councils to the Communities 4 Local Democracy group:

Those voted in favour to join :

Ian Pottinger
Nobby Clark
Allan Arnold
Nigel Skelt
Graham Lewis
Peter Kett

Those that voted against joining:

Lesley Soper
Rebecca Amundsen
Marcus Lush
Darren Ludlow
Alex Crackett
Lindsay Abbott
mana whenua representatives Evelyn Cook and Pania Coote