WATER BILLING

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (15:30): As the cabinet minister responsible for water why did the Minister for Water Security not understand the water billing system? On ABC Radio this morning the Treasurer stated:

No one in cabinet understood the water billing system, including the water security minister.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Small Business, Minister Assisting the Minister for Industry and Trade) (15:31): I am very pleased answer this question. Last year, when we were dealing with these issues, we were also dealing with a number of major infrastructure projects. Part of the process was to have a number of ministers and different agencies working on different parts of the project. SA Water and Treasury were actually working on water pricing. The water infrastructure component was the part that I as minister was putting forward in that cabinet submission. We were working out and collating between all of the different components what we needed to invest in relation to water security and securing water supplies for South Australia in the longer term.

On the other hand, we also needed to know what it was going to cost us to do that. In that process, there was a misunderstanding. The agencies that were dealing with pricing assumed that cabinet would understand that the billing cycle meant the charges for water would apply from the gazettal in December/early January for bills sent out after 1 July. They assumed that incorrectly. We did not understand; I did not understand. I was of the belief that those charges would occur from 1 July. I have apologised to this house, I have apologised to the SA Water customers who have been affected by this, and I again reiterate our sincere apologies. The fact is that this government is prepared to fix the wrong, get on with it, and make sure that this does not occur again, unlike members opposite, who were part of cabinet, who allowed this to continue to be a confusing process and a confusing billing and pricing system. We are fixing it once and for all so that future governments will not be faced with this issue again.