Water Meters

In reply to the Hon. S.G. WADE (14 April 2016).

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change): As Minister for Water and the River Murray I have received this advice:

1. Select Solutions, the water meter replacement program contractor, has a local office located at Cavan in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. Select Solution's head office is located in Victoria. All of the water meter fitters currently working on the SA Water project are South Australian.

The public tender for this work was released on 23 April 2014 and closed on 27 May 2014. All opportunities to engage South Australian workers are taken into account during the tender evaluation process.

2. Select Solutions was awarded the contract under the weighted criteria method of tender evaluation that considers opportunities to engage South Australian workers.

SA Water now has an 'Industry Participation' weighting in its request for tender templates.

Ad hoc meter replacements (breakdowns/customer complaints) are undertaken by Allwater (Alliance partners in metro) and internal SA Water staff (in country). In both instances South Australian workers are engaged.