In December of 2021 news broke that a “group of water users is taking action against claims made by the Minister of Local Government to justify giving some Māori the effective control of more than a hundred billion dollars of ratepayer funded three waters assets.” This action was in response to the Labour government’s proposed Three Waters legislation.
That group of water users was represented by the newly minted Water Users’ Group, an incorporated society created the month before. They stood up a web site to provide the public and their members with updates on the ongoing legal challenge, led by their legal team Gary Judd QC and Brigitte Morten. Updates were usually released in the name of Stephen Franks, Board Member (more on that later).
The Water Users’ Group claim in the High Court in August 2022 centered around some arcane points of law relating to the proactive release of Cabinet Papers that included Crown Law advice, and whether that release was enough to waive privilege.
In October of 2022 Water Users’ Group published an update on their case, declaring partial success, but appealing other aspects of the Judge’s ruling. This was signed off by “Chair”, Chris Milne, who also happens to be on the Taxpayers’ Union board.
They did indeed appeal, but lost, and ultimately decided to abandon the case, citing the election cycle, the ongoing costs of the litigation, and the increased likelihood of losing.
So far, so unexciting. It’s not unusual for industry-good bodies, or groups of affected parties to band together to make their case to government, including taking action in the courts. The far more interesting element of this story is the creation, make up, and funding of the Water Users’ Group.
The registered office is listed as the office of Franks Ogilvy.
The domain name is also owned by Franks Ogilvy.
In the governance of an incorporated society you would normally expect to see a Chair, Treasurer, Secretary etc, but the sole Officer of the Water Users’ Group incorporated society is…Stephen Franks.
While the Water Users’ Group purports to “foster and promote the interests of water users in New Zealand”, the only public reference we can find to actual members is “a coalition of ratepayers groups from Tauranga, Auckland and Nelson” or “our [TPU] ratepayer subsidiary groups in Auckland and Tauranga“
Taking cases to the High Court with a legal team including QCs is expensive. The Taxpayers’ Union donated $200,000 to the Water Users’ Group to fund their court action. Here’s Jordan Williams, Executive Director of TPU and former employee of Franks Ogilvie updating their subscribers on the case.
This funding is reflected in the Statement of Financial Performance lodged with the Incorporated Societies Register, although we have yet to see subsequent years’ returns to confirm the status of the remaining funds (if any).
So rather than asking who are the Water Users’ Group, perhaps the question should be is who *is* the Water Users’ Group? You can decide for yourself if this was a genuine group representing real concerns or something closer to an astroturfing exercise.
Note: All information used in this post is publicly available. Details not relevant have been redacted for privacy.