Question Time

SA Water

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment questions about SA Water and water prices.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Last week, the minister revealed the average metropolitan residential water and sewerage bill would go up by some $25. This came after the previous week's announcement that there would be an 18 per cent rise in electricity bills. The average South Australian household bill for water now has increased some 240 per cent since 2001-02 and this is a further hit on the cost of living and will put pressure on many vulnerable South Australians. My questions to the minister are:

1. Does the minister concede that this rise in costs means that South Australians will continue to have the highest water prices in the country?

2. Can the minister reveal to South Australians what the dividend is that SA Water will pay to the Weatherill government this year?

3. Will the minister support the Liberal Party's call for an independent inquiry into water pricing in South Australia?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:22): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. However, I do take issue with him repeating the untruth, which I have advised the Liberals of many times, about claiming that South Australia has the highest water prices in the country. He only has to look at the Bureau of Meteorology's comparative report, which is published every year, to work out for himself that that is not correct.

In the past, I have written to previous spokespeople for the Liberals on this issue, and indeed the opposition leader in the other place, to correct them on those assertions and, fortunately, they are responsive to the facts and have stopped making those claims, but the Hon. Mr Ridgway seems to persevere. Clearly, he didn't get the memo.

The state government is committed to easing the cost of living pressures on families and helping to reduce household bills. Again, the honourable member only has to look at the last ESCOSA determination to work out that, in fact, the average decrease on combined bills is $87. He failed to mention that in his question. He doesn't actually mention the fact that the previous regulatory period dropped the average bill by about $41 and he fails to mention in his question that, of course, we took the River Murray levy off the bills as well. All up, roughly $170 has come off the average bill in this state.

The Hon. David Ridgway didn't mention that in his preamble to his question. Goodness gracious, why should we pay any attention to what he says? He gets the basic premise wrong in his question, saying that we have the highest water price in the country—well, that's wrong, obviously absolutely wrong—and he doesn't mention the other aspect, that the bills have come down by roughly $170 on average. How much more credence do we put into this question from the honourable member, who absolutely denies the facts and wants to mislead people by not supplying the correct information about how much these bills have decreased over the two regulatory periods I have just talked about?

SA Water prices take into account a range of factors, including the cost to provide, sustain and enhance the delivery of water and sewerage services across the state. The pricing methodology is guided by the principles outlined in the National Water Initiative and by the South Australian government's commitment to statewide pricing. This commitment exists to ensure that SA Water customers across South Australia pay the same price per kilolitre of water regardless of whether they live in metropolitan Adelaide or in our regions and are serviced by reticulated water from SA Water.

Sewerage prices are also designed so that average bills are as consistent as possible right across the state. Last week, I announced that water and sewerage pricing for 2017-18 will be capped at CPI (about 2.1 per cent on average) to reflect the change in CPI across the country. This will see the average metropolitan residential water and sewerage bill increase by $25 and that is the only bit of the Hon. Mr Ridgway's question which is accurately based.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: So, there is an increase?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: A CPI increase, the Hon. Mr Ridgway. Can you not get that through your head? The increase has been capped at CPI and that is what we said when we announced the ESCOSA second regulatory period: of the decrease by $87 and further increases year on year capped at CPI. Didn't you get that memo? Wasn't that passed on?

The PRESIDENT: Minister, don't respond to interjections.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, Mr President, he needs to be educated.

The PRESIDENT: You're encouraging him.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: You cannot allow—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —a person who purports to be a senior leader in the possible Liberal government—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: He doesn't purport to be, he is.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Well, that remains to be seen how the party room votes, of course. He purports to be a senior leader in a potential Liberal government and he can't even get the facts right. This man and this mob opposite are not ready for government. If they can't get their facts right in such an important policy area—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: Let's ask the people of South Australia that question.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Indeed we will, the Hon. Ms Lensink, and we will see how that works out for you.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, take a seat. Totally inappropriate; the minister is on his feet trying to answer a question. There are crossbenchers and others looking forward to asking questions. We are wasting time. Let's just get back onto the business we are here for. Minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Thank you, Mr President. I can't agree, of course, that listening to me giving answers to Mr Ridgway is wasting time because he does need to be educated and I am very happy to do it. I am also very pleased that we are, as a government, delivering on our commitment to contain cost of living pressures for South Australians by limiting water prices and sewerage increases for the next year to CPI as well—so, not just this year, next year we will be limited to CPI. Over the last four years, SA Water customers have seen a 6.5 per cent decrease in combined water and sewerage bills, which is the largest reduction for urban residential customers out of the 13 similar size water utilities across the country, I am advised.

By carefully prioritising capital works and managing operating expenses, SA Water has been able to deliver an average 6.7 per cent or an $87 reduction in average metropolitan residential water and sewerage bills this year. Since the introduction of independent regulation in 2013, the government has driven down the price of an average household water and sewerage bill by $171. As a result, the latest SA Water customer satisfaction results for the period 1 January to 31 March 2017 show that 81 per cent of customers surveyed were either satisfied or very satisfied with their service experience with SA Water. This is an increase of 4 percentage points since the previous survey.

This government also provides a comparatively high level of revenue towards community service obligations when compared to other utilities across the country. In 2016-17, this government will provide $122.43 million, I am advised, in CSOs. These CSOs allow SA Water to provide concessions to approximately 120,000 property owners statewide and can be up to 30 per cent of an annual water bill. As part of the state government's tax reform package, the Save the River Murray Levy was abolished on 1 July 2015. This provided annual savings for 2015-16 water bills of $40 to most households and $182 for most businesses. This equates to a total saving of almost $109 million over four years—a saving of $109 million over four years coming out of SA Water, given back to members of our community.

It is a massive decrease, and that is exactly what the government has committed to do. We continue to ensure that South Australians have access to reliable and quality water at an affordable price and will continue to make that a priority for this government.