Water Pricing

Mrs POWER (Elder) (14:38): My question is for the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister inform the house how South Australians are set to benefit from the Marshall Liberal government's massive water bill reductions, including in my electorate of Elder?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:38): I thank the member for Elder for her question. The Marshall Liberal government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —has put cost of living and cost of doing business at the very heart of its agenda since taking power in March 2018. We have had a very clear agenda to do this and we have driven forward that agenda, whether it's the huge reductions that we have seen in the emergency services levy, the reductions in payroll tax for our small and medium-size—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —businesses and, of course, the very, very significant—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —land tax reductions that have been seen unfolding across the state. This is something that we made a very clear commitment on, and we are getting on with it, no more so than dealing with a very significant reform to the way SA Water undertakes the charging of water and sewerage supply in South Australia. For far too long, SA Water was used as a cash cow, particularly under 16 years of Labor government in this state. In fact, when Labor came to power in 2002, the average water bill in this state was $236 per annum. When they left office in 2018, the average water bill per annum was $782, a tripling of that bill.

That impact was felt in every household connected to the SA Water network across our state. In metropolitan Adelaide and throughout many parts of regional South Australia, households and businesses were punished every quarter when they received their water bill, with money being ripped out of their bank accounts and handed over to the government to prop up the bottom line. We know this is the case because our independent inquiry into water pricing, undertaken by respected South Australian businessman Lew Owens, showed exactly that: the regulated asset base had been falsely inflated in order for the previous government to pillage SA Water—well, really to pillage SA Water customers and take money out of their pockets.

We went to the election saying that we would look into this situation, and that's exactly what we have done. We have seen, last week, the ESCOSA determination for 2020-24 handed down, and we have seen a generational reset in the way that water pricing is undertaken in South Australia. That will deliver very significant savings to South Australian households and businesses, money that they can confidently do what they like with. We really hope that they will have the confidence, moving forward, to spend that extra money that they will get to stimulate the South Australian economy, particularly in these difficult times.

The savings that we are seeing are comprised of a 10 per cent reduction in the water supply charge, a 10 per cent reduction in the sewerage supply charge and very significant overall reductions in water prices. This will deliver a $200 per annum saving on the average household water bill and a $1,350 per annum saving on the average business water bill. This is a significant amount of money. I asked SA Water if anything like this had occurred, in terms of savings being handed to the customer across the nation, in recent memory, and this has not happened. South Australia is leading the way when it comes to putting downward pressure on water pricing, and this is occurring in households all across the state, including in the member for Elder's electorate.

The average house in Colonel Light Gardens, in the member for Elder's electorate, where the Leader of the Opposition's parents actually live—he continually says that on social media—will save $285 to $375 per annum on their water bill. This is great news for South Australians and great news for the member for Elder's electorate. We look forward to delivering these savings.