The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee has rubberstamped that, so Aucklanders should prepare to have their water stolen and privatised out from under them (and so should the rest of us).
But there are more disquieting aspects to National's drumhead rubberstamp process. I'd submitted on the bill specifically about its secrecy provisions, which appeared to inadvertently override the OIA and LGOIMA and allow water entities to charge for information they would currently have to make public for free. The Ombudsman seemed to share my concerns on charging, and in their submission recommended an amendment to say that it did not override the LGOIMA and OIA. Of course, this was ignored. In their departmental report, DIA says that it is "not the intention" to override the OIA/LGOIMA, that "[w]e consider that it could not do so without express wording to that effect", and so no amendment is necessary. Unfortunately, that explicit wording already exists in the LGOIMA / OIA savings clauses, and the Ombudsman explicitly pointed this out - but weirdly their views are not even mentioned.
(DIA takes a similar line on section 41, which forbids agencies from using shared information other than specific purposes, but the Ombudsman is more hopeful here. Where previously they would have seen this as an over-ride, now they're talking about it as merely suggesting a presumption of confidentiality and the possibility of withholding under existing grounds - a position which is quite hopeful for other clauses).
But the real problem for the committee is the Henry VIII clause, which allows certain parts of the law to be repealed by Order in Council. The Regulations Review Committee quite rightly got very shitty about this, pointing out that it is improper to allow Ministers to amend or repeal statute by royal diktat. Naturally, they were ignored by National. Their excuse?
Further, we note that an Order in Council made under this provision would be secondary legislation subject to Parliamentary presentation and disallowance processes, in accordance with the Legislation Act 2019.Which sounds fine. Until you read down to the schedule, and see the committee has snuck in a consequential amendment which specifically exempts the Henry VIII clause from the very presentation and disallowance processes they are hiding behind (you can see here what they are amending). Its not clear why they have done this - there is no rationale in the select committee report, or the departmental report - but it gives the impression that the committee are either two-faced liars operating in complete bad faith, or incompetent morons who have no idea what they are doing. And neither is a very comforting explanation.
