Water Meters

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray questions relating to the replacement of water meters.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The member for Bragg in the other place has been contacted by a constituent concerned by a situation where a plumber had visited her home to replace her water meter. The plumber, who had been contracted by SA Water to undertake the works (the replacement of a domestic water meter), was apparently from a Victorian company. My questions are:

1. Can the minister advise whether the plumbing firm contracted by SA Water to replace domestic water meters in this state is an interstate company? If so, can the minister advise whether the plumbing firm utilises South Australian workers for their SA Water work?

2. Can the minister assure the council that all opportunities to engage South Australian workers are taken in the process to engage SA Water contractors?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:28): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. To the best of my knowledge, I haven't been contacted by the member for Bragg about this particular constituent, so I am not prepared to make any answer in terms of this particular case. However, I do understand that SA Water does from time to time replace water meters if they are shown to be faulty and if they are reading slow or fast (I think the figure is over 5 per cent, but that is from memory; I won't stand on that).

Individual householders can, of course, contract plumbers to replace water meters at their own cost if they believe theirs to be faulty. In terms of who is contracted to do it for SA Water or Allwater, I am not quite sure; I will have to take that part of the question on notice and bring it back for the honourable member.