Nominations wanted for 3W constitutions working groups

Each of the four water service entities will have its own constitution that sets out details about how it’s governed and held accountable. Each constitution can have tailored arrangements that work for that entity’s local authority owners, mana whenua and communities.

The Minister of Local Government has asked local government to codesign the content of these constitutions through four working groups, one for each entity (see her letter). National Council has agreed to gather nominations for people to be on these working groups to lead that process.

The working group will decide things like:

• How many people there are on the Regional Representative Group
• How the local government representatives on that group will be chosen and what they are paid
• How many Regional Advisory Panels the entity will have and what areas those Panels will cover.

Each working group will include six or seven local government representatives as well as an equal number of mana whenua representatives from the WSE rohe, with a local government co-chair and a mana whenua co-chair. The co-chairs of all four working groups will come together to exchange ideas as the constitutions are developed.

As each working group develops their constitution’s content, they will engage with their communities – and will decide for themselves the best way to do this. The working groups will be supported by a secretariat.

Being on the working group means meeting 6-8 times between approximately March and June 2023. These will be a mix of online and in-person meetings, with travel and accommodation covered as necessary.

You can read more background and detail about the process in this PowerPoint provided by the Department of Internal Affairs. The constitutions will go through the usual parliamentary regulation-making process after this co-design process is finished.

If you are interested in being part of one of these working groups, please email your nomination to nominations@lgnz.co.nz

• Your name
• Your contact details
• Your council
• The entity area you are part of (see this map)