WATERWORKS (RATES) AMENDMENT BILL

Final Stages

The Legislative Council did not insist on its amendment and made an alternative amendment in lieu thereof:

No. 1 Schedule 1, clause 1, page 6, after line 27 [Schedule 1, clause 1]—Insert:

(7) In addition, water rates for the 2010/2011 financial year must be fixed by the Minister on or before 7 December 2009 (and section 65CAA(1)(a) of the principal Act, as inserted by this Act, will not apply with respect to the 2010/2011 financial year).

(8) Subclause (7) does not apply to a charge or rate within the ambit of section 65CAA(1)(b) of the principal Act, as inserted by this Act.

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: I move:

That the Legislative Council's alternative amendment be agreed to.

I acknowledge the work of the Hon. Mark Parnell in providing a compromise solution to what was a politically motivated agenda and, in doing so, in the longer term, preserved the integrity of the legislation as the government had intended. The government has no concern regarding making the announcement of the price this year, as we always intended to do so. So, gazetting the price for next year's water this year prior to 31 December is not a concern to the government because we always intended to make the price known, as I made quite clear in my remarks when speaking to the original amendment. The government is pleased to be able to support this amendment from the Legislative Council.

Mr WILLIAMS: Might I say that the opposition is somewhat disappointed that the other place has chosen to amend its position and somewhat weaken its position. The reality is that, unlike the government would have us believe, the annual increase in rates and charges for a whole range of government services is not part of the budget process and, by and large, is announced well before the budget. This was one of the few charges made by the government—and is one of the most significant charges made by the government—which will be announced after the budget. It will not be part of the normal budget process. It will not be handed down as a new rate announced with the budget. It will now be announced after the budget.

The budget documents with reference to SA Water are quite scant in the information they provide. Indeed, a table is provided in probably chapter 6 or 7 of Budget Paper 3, by tradition, which incorporates figures concerning the public non-financial corporations, which include SA Water, Forestry SA, the Lotteries Commission, etc. The only information that we get in the budget papers about SA Water is a small amount of discussion in that chapter (if I have the number right) and the table, which basically indicates the amount of dividend and tax equivalent that the government expects to get from SA Water. Currently, it does not give the fees that will be set. I do not expect that to change.

This legislation will allow the government (if returned next March) to announce its new charges in June, which is very close to the time when they come into being. Traditionally, the charges have been announced prior to 7 December. The process to establish the new charges—notwithstanding that I argued earlier in the house that in South Australia that is a flawed process—barely pays lip service to the national water initiative. Notwithstanding that, the process and all the work that goes in behind the scenes to come up with a figure to be adopted as the new water charges are already in train, and the timing is such that the end result and the figures can be presented to cabinet in late November in order for the charges to be announced in early December.

The government will now change all of that process—and I reiterate, in my opinion and in the opinion of the opposition—for no reason other than to ensure that they got past the next election. The government chooses to continue that charade. Unfortunately, the upper house has agreed to allow the government to continue that charade in so much as they will only insist that, in the first year of operation of the new amendments, the new prices will need to be announced again in December. Fortunately, the people of South Australia will have the new water prices prior to going to the polls in March of next year, and I hail that.

I am pleased that the position the opposition originally put has now been accepted by the government, but the government must now accept that, whoever is in power in future times, it will always be the case (if this legislation is not amended at some future date) that governments of the future will go to the polls in the middle of March—we now have fixed four year terms—with a major service price increase to be announced after the election. I and the opposition thought it would have been sensible for such an announcement to be made not just before the next election but any election.

Since SA Water provides such a significant amount of the government's revenue base and has been certainly in the term of this government a significant milch cow, I think it would have been a good piece of law if we tied all future governments to making such an announcement before they go to the polls in subsequent years. The opposition reluctantly supports the amendment as it has come back from the other place, having expressed our disappointment.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD: In response to some of the remarks made by the member opposite, if we take this year as a case in point, his remarks would be incorrect given that the budget came out on 4 June and the prices would need to be set under the government's intended legislation by 1 June. So, the prices would have come out before the budget anyway.

How the government has referred to this is about setting the prices being part of the budget process. I accept that the member opposite, who is taking the lead on this legislation, has not had the opportunity to be in cabinet and part of the budget process. However, it does not happen days before the budget is announced; it happens many months before it is announced. Having the ability to include the pricing for water, as with other charges the government is responsible for managing, is a sensible thing to do.

We welcome the course of action that has been taken by the Hon. Mark Parnell in another place to deal with this political issue, which is about nothing more than the March 2010 election. We do not set any other prices seven months in advance; local government does not set prices seven months in advance. It seems a nonsense to build into legislation something that is obviously a politically motivated agenda for the March 2010 election.

As I said, the government has nothing to hide. We have been very open and very clear with the public of South Australia that we intend to have a series of price increases that will lead to a doubling of water prices within a five year span. We do not wish to hide from that fact, so we have no problem with gazetting the price for next year in December. However, we think that the longer term policy position we have adopted of 1 June is far more sensible. It is practical, and it is not politically motivated: it is good government policy.

Motion carried.