Question Time

WATER BILLING

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): Will the Premier demand cuts to personal ministerial staff to offset the costs of providing refunds to incorrectly billed SA Water customers so that this expense is not passed on to the people of South Australia? The Rann government employs, at a cost of many millions of dollars, an unprecedented number of advisers and media staff—presently around 300. A reduction in this expense would free up funding to offset the costs of the SA Water bills bungle, but today on radio the water minister indicated her intention to make taxpayers bear the cost burden for reprocessing the refunds.

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:12): I know it is Thursday and I know it is the last day of parliament, but you kind of expect a bit more from the Leader of the Opposition. The fact of the matter is that, as much as he tries to string things out—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —the government has said that it has made a mistake. The government has corrected that mistake. The government is going to refund the people affected and do it as expeditiously as possible. So, I guess you can try to hope that people will run it for another day. Okay, a mistake was made, refunds will be made and we want your support at the appropriate time to change the Waterworks Act 1932. Also, of course, there has already been the announcement of quarterly billing. So, those things have been announced. They were announced earlier in the week, and reannounced over again.