At 10am tomorrow, our QC will be in court arguing that you should be able to see the Crown Law advice Minister Mahuta mentioned in her Cabinet Papers. She used it to discourage questioning of her claim that Three Waters reform needed Maori co-governance to satisfy Maori rights and interests under the Treaty.

We tried to get you access to the hearing but the judge decided that could prejudice the Crown’s argument and claimed that the opinion should remain confidential.

We'll let you know promptly how the hearing goes.

You may have also seen more in the media this morning about Three Waters - there are a lot of good people pushing back against these reforms:

• The Council 4 Local Democracy group (more than 20 councils who’ve dissented from the LGNZ collusion with the government) this morning urged an alternative model. It would see resources going where they are needed, real input from councils and no co-governance. See more on their model in the NZ Herald article or on their website.
• You may have heard Brigitte Morten on Today FM this morning with Tova O'Brien talking about my law firm’s legal opinion for the NZ Taxpayers' Union. We concluded that the government’s "ownership" and "shareholding" claims are calculated to deceive. In our opinion they  could leave LGNZ and some professional advisors liable under the Fair Trading Act. Politicians and officials are not liable under that Act, but being involved with politicians does not excuse professional advisers and other service providers from the normal business standards of honesty and fair dealing. You can read the legal opinion here and listen to the Today FM interview here.

Thank you for your support.

Stephen Franks
Board Member