Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Local Government): Today's announcement is the next step in our three waters reform approach that will save ratepayers thousands of dollars and ensure New Zealanders can have safe drinking water and sustainable stormwater and waste-water services into the future. Building on evidence released in early June, showing New Zealand was facing $120 billion to $185 billion needed to invest in these services, today I've released compelling evidence that shows every community will benefit from the proposed three waters reforms. The data shows that, without these changes, the average cost per household for delivering these essential services could be as high as $9,000 by 2051. Under our proposals, modelling shows that individual households across New Zealand will save thousands of dollars while enabling long-term investment in core waters infrastructure.