Water Pricing

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:12): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray a question about water pricing in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: The Australian Water Quality Centre is a business unit of SA Water tasked with making sure South Australians have safe drinking water. As a commercial operation, AWQC provides professional advice on water quality issues, offers analytical and consultation services and is involved in research on everything from public health to the best ways to minimise environmental impacts. My questions to the minister are:

1. At what unit price does the AWQC internally charge SA Water?

2. Would the minister inform the house whether SA Water is being overcharged by AWQC, as an informant has indicated to me they believe is the situation?

3. If so, is this amount then being passed on to consumers?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:13): I thank the honourable member for his most intriguing question. AWQC, the quality control side of SA Water, is a highly profitable enterprise for SA Water and is also part of its unregulated business; therefore, it is not, as I understand it, controlled by ESCOSA's regulated pricing mechanisms; if anything at all, it is probably keeping prices down for SA Water customers because of its profitability.

The efficient way it does its job means that other water utilities from around the country are asking SA Water's quality control centre to do its quality control work for them. Of course, it charges those utilities at a commercial rate, and I would say that that is actually doing more to keep water prices down than the honourable member might believe from his so-called informant.