SA Water

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (15:15): My question is again to the Treasurer. How does the Treasurer reconcile the current financial arrangement where SA Water is obliged to transfer 95 per cent of retained earnings to the government Consolidated Account with his position yesterday where he claimed that water pricing based upon replacement asset valuations was to meet future needs for asset replacement?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (15:16): This might be a bombshell to the member for MacKillop, but we own SA Water, and the public gets the benefit of its profits. I know it is a shocking revelation for the opposition that we dare to socialise the profits of SA Water and put them back into concessions and postage stamp water pricing and of course give a benefit to the people of this state for owning their water assets.

We have all seen the impacts of privatising electricity. When the opposition promised us that, by privatising our electricity, we would have cheaper power, they were wrong. We will not forgo ownership of our water assets in the driest state in the driest country in the world. We believe it is important we maintain ownership of those assets. We believe we should be the masters of our own destiny when it comes to water, not at the hands of foreign ownership. We believe our water assets belong to South Australians and they should get the benefit of those water assets.

The SPEAKER: Supplementary.