Cost of Living Concession

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): My question is to the Premier. How many South Australians are currently facing hardship paying their water bills and what will the government do to support them? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: It was recently revealed to the Budget and Finance Committee that 55,000 customers have outstanding debt to SA Water, amounting to almost $63 million.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:23): My advice is that we currently provide $412 off annual water and sewer bills for average concession card holders. In the state of South Australia that equates to 190,000 different concession recipients. That is a measure that, of course, stands alongside other substantial Cost of Living Concessions that we have provided as a government. We have doubled the cost-of-living payment in previous budgets and, of course, we have rolled out other measures in terms of energy bill relief, because this is a government that doesn't pretend that there aren't challenging circumstances for many within the community. When it comes to cost-of-living relief we have been very progressive, in that we have made sure that we haven't gone for the broad-based Cost of Living Concession for everybody.

We said from the outset that as a Labor government with the capacity to be able to provide relief in the budget, we are going to provide support to those people who need it most. We would rather provide more support to those who need it most than run around chasing votes by cutting young people out of the housing market, by reducing water bills for everybody. We are being very deliberate—whether it be Cost of Living Concessions, whether it be targeting support through the Housing Trust, or whether it be one of the measures that this government has expanded its commitment around, which is for families who send their children to public schools, with the doubling of the relief around the school services charge that we provided at the last state budget, increasing it to $200—and trying to find ways to make a difference.

Do all of these things on their own solve problems for families doing it tough in a cost-of-living crisis? Of course they don't, but when you add them up they do make a difference, and that is all we can legitimately seek to do. We do not pretend that we can fix every problem in this regard, particularly as a state government, but as a state government working in collaboration with the commonwealth government—which we have done in a number of fields, particularly around energy concession relief—these things add up and make a difference.

We will not apologise for crafting our Cost of Living Concession payments, whether it be around water or other vehicles, in a way that is progressive and targeted to those people who are on low incomes or fixed incomes who do not have the capacity, within a discretionary element of household budgets, to sustain the big increases that others might be able to do. We are deliberate about that, and we will be consistent about that principle because we believe it is the right thing to do.