WATER AND SEWERAGE INFRASTRUCTURE

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:33): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray questions about the government's proposed third-party access regime for water infrastructure.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The minister would be aware that he was bound by section 26 of the Water Industry Act to publish a report by 1 February this year regarding third-party access to water infrastructure and sewerage infrastructure services and for that report to be laid on the table in this place. This was done on 20 March. The minister was also bound to use his best endeavours to introduce a bill giving effect to this new regime by 1 September of this year. I understand that the minister tabled a bill for consultation in late September. My questions are:

1. Why has the minister not endeavoured to introduce the Water Industry (Third Party Access) Amendment Bill before 1 September, as per conditions of the Water Industry Act?

2. Given the report was released in February, why was consultation not carried out between February and September?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:34): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions. As the honourable member highlighted, on 26 September I released a consultation draft bill to establish a state-based third-party access regime for water and sewerage infrastructure. This draft bill is a key milestone in ongoing major reforms for the water industry in South Australia that began with a passage of the Water Industry Act last year.

The implementation of access arrangements will be another key step towards an efficient, dynamic and transparent water industry for South Australia. In February this year, I published a report titled 'Access to Water and Sewerage Infrastructure'. That report was intended to facilitate consultation with industry participants and industry community members on the eventual implementation of state-based access arrangements for water and sewerage infrastructure services. This draft bill is closely based on that earlier report and the feedback that was received. It also builds on our experience with economic regulation and access regimes for maritime services and railway operations which have been certified by the National Competition Council.

Current arrangements allow access seekers and SA Water to negotiate access on a commercial basis. This draft bill formalises those arrangements and provides a regulatory framework that will apply consistently to all South Australian water industry entities. This is an opportunity for anyone with an interest in the state's water industry to provide comments to this bill, and I understand that written submissions are due by 29 November 2013.

The report was published in accordance with section 26 of the Water Industry Act 2012. The report was also required to be tabled in parliament. The report summarised the current status of third-party access to water and sewerage infrastructure and examined a number of options for access regimes in the state. The options included: maintaining the status quo, that is, access seekers may seek a determination for access under the commonwealth Competition and Consumer Act 2012; making a ministerial direction to SA Water requiring SA Water to publish protocols regarding third-party access to its infrastructure which would operate under the commonwealth act; the possibility of voluntary undertakings under the national access regime which would involve water infrastructure owners giving a voluntary undertaking under the commonwealth act; and, finally, the creation of a state-based legislative access regime.

Third-party access is designed to allow industry access to infrastructure for the purpose of providing goods and services to customers in downstream and upstream markets. An access regime is a regulatory framework that provides an avenue for firms to use certain infrastructure services owned and operated by others when commercial negotiations regarding access are unsuccessful. As I said earlier, we will wait for the written submissions which close on 29 November and then make some further determinations after that period has ended.