Community Wastewater Management System

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:48): I rise this afternoon to speak about an incredibly important issue for my community and what we are doing to fix it. As a government, we will transfer all households in the Tea Tree Gully council's community wastewater management system to SA Water sewerage at no cost to the household.

After decades of inaction by previous governments and the council, following our election in 2018 we listened to the concerns of the community on this issue. We developed a plan to transition properties, and now we are actually transferring properties and delivering the solution. We are not just talking about it; we are doing it, and we are doing it for each and every one of the more than 4,700 properties on the system at no cost to them.

Earlier this year, we connected the first property to the new sewer main line along Glenere Drive and completed connecting all properties along that street. I can tell you that those residents who live along there are absolutely thrilled and incredibly pleased with the result not only because their sewerage costs have gone down by hundreds of dollars every year, not only because now they have a modern and reliable sewerage service, but because of the manner in which SA Water and its staff engaged with them directly on the work, particularly when it came to the on-property works, the works that were actually being done on their property.

The level of engagement between SA Water and residents is incredibly important, given how complex this project is and the fact that every single household will be different. It is not unusual when I am out doorknocking or holding street-corner meetings for residents to ask very specific questions about what will happen on their property, and I can assure all of them that SA Water will be conducting onsite inspections with residents and working through with them exactly how the plan will be rolled out, what it will mean for them and also, importantly, what will be done to reinstate anything that has been disturbed as part of the project.

In more great news, earlier this week works along Dawson Drive in Modbury have now commenced. SA Water will be installing 870 metres of new sewer main pipes along Dawson Drive, Angus Court and North East Road, between Kelly Road and Dawson Drive. Households will be connected to the new sewer main line in coming weeks, delivering more affordable and reliable sewerage services to even more households in the north-east.

Following the pilot works, the major works component of this project is scheduled across three stages, prioritised and based on a range of criteria—the most important being essentially where those areas are performing the worst, those areas that break down the most and are in fact currently the most expensive areas for the council to maintain. In fact, the council have identified a number of locations at a particular risk of collapse if works are not completed in the not too distant future. I would urge counsel to move as quickly as possible to accept the transition plan so that we can get on with this project so that all residents in the north-east have access to the sewerage services they expect and deserve.

It has unfortunately been the case, though, that there has been some scaremongering from the Labor Party on this project, which is quite disappointing given their inaction on this issue over 16 years of government. They actually have a chance to do something about it. What I cannot be any clearer about is that every single household on the Tea Tree Gully Council's CWMS will be transferred to SA Water—every single property. Whether they are scheduled for stage 1, stage 2 or stage 3, we have committed to transfer every property. I also cannot be any clearer that we are committed to undertaking this work at no cost to the household.

A good addition to this project, which I think would be fantastic for the council to be involved in, would be to see streetscaping works and greening projects to follow after the SA Water work has occurred, breathing life into some of the streets that have received very little investment like that for many years. In fact, council staff have told me that they have often not invested in streetscaping and greening works in some of these streets, with the expectation that at some point in the future an upgrade to the CWMS would occur. So I think this would be a great project to essentially provide those residents in the area with something that they have actually already paid for.

I would certainly also say that there is no justification for council to increase rates. Households have already paid enough and it is quite illogical for a project funded by the state government to then somehow justify increasing rates. We are getting on with the job of fixing the CWMS, transferring all properties to modern, affordable and reliable sewerage at no cost to the household.