Mayoral candidate John Tamihere: Part-privatise Auckland's Watercare

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

Mayoral challenger John Tamihere wants to sell 49 per cent of the Auckland Council-owned water company, in the biggest policy splash of the contest.

Tamihere said the proceeds of the partial sale of Watercare could deliver cash to build much-needed infrastructure.

The announcement came in the first head-to-head debate with mayor Phil Goff at a business breakfast on Auckland's North Shore.

Goff exclaimed: 'What?' in apparent disbelief as he listened to Tamihere, and said any sale would put 'water bills through the roof.'

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* John Tamihere mayoral campaign ad 'misleading', advertising authority rules**

'Watercare is not for sale as long as I'm mayor,' Goff told Stuff in one of the biggest policy divisions so far between the pair.

Watercare Services Limited is controlled by legislation cementing it in council ownership, banned from paying a dividend, and required to operate at the lowest cost.

Tamihere said there was already a bid from the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) for 50 per cent - 'Phil knows it, the public needs to know it.'

Goff said he knew of no such bid.

Tamihere has already announced his desire to sell the operations of council-owned Ports of Auckland.

'The port because we don't get a return on the asset, Watercare because we don't get a return on the asset,' he said.

Watercare is the country's biggest water provider, and processor of sewage, and its assets are worth more than $10 billion.

Goff said any sale would hit large families hardest.

'I'd have to do the calculations, but it could be a 30, 40 or 50 per cent increase in water rates.' he told Stuff. 

Goff said a buyer of half the company would want a return of around 7.5 per cent, instead of the status quo in which Watercare pays no dividend.

'If you've got a monopoly all the more reason to keep in the public sector,' he said.

Tamihere insisted ratepayers would benefit by not having to pay elsewhere to major projects.

'One way or another you're gonna pay, as a taxpayer or a ratepayer, your day of reckoning is coming for that third harbour crossing or the infrastructure required to clear up our beaches,' he told Stuff.

Goff praised Watercare as an efficient and well run operation.

'The best in the country - ministers of the crown think Watercare is the model for the rest of the country,' he said.

Tamihere told Stuff he had no other plans for privatisation of council assets 'at this particular point in time.'

His Watercare announcement was a preview of a wider policy plank still to be fully revealed.

He said the legislation around Watercare would be dealt with during his first term if elected, most of which would be devoted to 're-setting' the structure of the council and the laws under which it operates.

Tamihere got vocal support from the audience of 150 at the North Harbour Club event, when describing the council's major agencies as unaccountable.

Goff got the biggest applause when backing the council plans to turn a large carpark in central Takapuna, into a town square with greenspace.

The issue had divided the community, and a group opposing the suggested redevelopment is holding a public gathering on Saturday.