Three Waters is ploughing ahead after the appointment of Chief Executives for three of their mega entities, National’s Local Government spokesperson Simon Watts says.

“The Labour Government seems to have confirmed today that their deeply unpopular Three Waters legislation is here to stay after appointing chief executives, including the current chief executive of Auckland’s Watercare, to lead their controversial Three Water mega entities.

“Labour began the process of recruiting highly paid executives for their mega entities before public submissions even began. These appointments have been made before the final legislation has even gone through Parliament.

“The Government is poaching the water assets off New Zealanders, and is now poaching the people that our cities employ to run these assets.

“They are also sending the signal to provincial New Zealand that these new entities will be run out of Auckland and Wellington, far from the communities where they currently are.

”A National Government will repeal Three Waters and work with councils to create an enduring solution.”