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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-22 Daily Xml
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WATER BILLING

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:53): I have a supplementary question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: In light of the Premier's response that he did not know about this matter before last Friday, how does he explain his government's transparency statement on water prices, which states on page 9 that the Minister for Water Security took a submission through cabinet (he chairs cabinet) in November 2007 which provided full details of the methodology for setting 2008-09 water and wastewater prices. The document prepared on behalf of the Treasurer and himself states:

The Department of Premier and Cabinet were consulted during the preparation of the 2008-09 transparency statement.

It goes on:

SA Water was consulted on the factual accuracy and completeness of information contained therein.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:54): First, I have the transparency statement. The leader, as he did on public radio this morning, misinterprets and misleads in what he says. I have reviewed the submission that the minister brought into cabinet, and there are two fleeting remarks relating to the—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: There are two comments in the cabinet submission that make references to the start date of 1 July 2008. From my reading and from my memory of that submission after I checked it, it was not explicit as to the four water years that are contained within the calendar year. There are four separate water years in a calendar year and, from my reading of that cabinet submission (and I stand to be corrected), I saw two references to the start-up date that were oblique in terms of explaining it. In fact (as she did with me yesterday in a meeting), Anne Howe, the head of the department has, I believe, been on public airwaves or has put out a statement saying that SA Water should have been more upfront and explanatory in advising us that we had four water years, and that some people would start getting bills backdated from 1 January.

Ms Chapman: So it's their fault?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: No, I have accepted responsibility.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! If the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has a question I am more than happy to give her the call.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Look at her raise her eyebrows! She is one odd person. I have accepted responsibility on behalf of the government, I have accepted responsibility for my failure. We should have known, and no-one has made any secret of that. SA Water assumed we knew and it was wrong to do so. It has accepted that it should have explained to us in far more detail so that we were aware of it, because had we been aware of it we would have had two choices: one would have been to restructure the billing year there and then; and the other would have been to put out a press release saying that these prices would start to apply to customers on a rolling basis from 1 January. There was nothing in it for us not to be honest, and, obviously, when we found out that an error had been made we moved very quickly.

However, as the Premier often says, there is some breaking news. If you were to believe the Leader of the Opposition—certainly from his statements on Friday—you would think that the government was somehow deceptive, that it had set about a secret plot to rip off money from households, that it had designed that. Now, we do a little digging in government, and we had a look at some files. I have a document here that I am quite happy to table. It is titled, 'Water Pricing in South Australia: A discussion paper,' and is dated December 1999.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The Attorney-General asks, 'What's in it?' On page 9, paragraph 4.1.5—Consumption year and the billing cycle, it states:

Meter reading and billing arrangements have a significant impact on the timing of bills for customers and even the timing of price increases as they apply to individual customers. Current practices for most customers include the following:

meters are read twice a year on a rolling basis, with some customers having their meters read as much as six months later than others;

customers are billed four times a year but only two of those bills include water usage charges, each for the previous six months consumption;

timing of bills with the consumption charges follows the timing of the rolling meter-reading program.

It goes on to say—and just listen to this, sir; this is the Liberal Party's discussion paper:

announced water prices apply for the financial year and any change in the water usage charges for the coming financial year must be announced no later than the preceding December.

The implications of this system are that:

timing of bills with the consumption charges following the timing of the rolling meter reading program;

'low priced' water comprises a bigger proportion (and sometimes all) of customers water use charges in the bill following the first meter reading, while 'high price' water tends to be billed in the bill following the second meter reading;

some customers begin to use water which is billed at the price for the following financial year from as early as December, shortly after prices are announced;

timing of when other customers start to use water at the price for the following financial year is subject to the rolling meter reading program, but can be up to six months later.

That is the abbreviated version. It then says that the billing cycle is explained in greater detail in attachment B. Well, that is about as clear as mud to me. That is a policy document, and perhaps the member for Davenport may have been the minister at the time.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: He was the minister at the time, so the member for Davenport—

Mr Hamilton-Smith: We used to tell people.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: He said, 'We used to tell people.' Thank you very much. A press release of 6 December 2001—listen to this—

The Hon. M.D. Rann: He was in the cabinet then.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: He was a cabinet minister. Listen to this. A press release of Rob Lucas, then minister for government enterprises, states:

Average residential customers will pay about 22¢ a week more for water from July next year under prices announced today [December 2001] for the 2002-03 financial year.

Nowhere in there does Mr Lucas say that some customers will start getting charged from December or January—backdated. They had their document and they had no idea. The leader just said, 'At least we told people.' You did not tell people. You made the same mistake and you were in cabinet.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The Leader of the Opposition has had every possible position on this matter, except an honest one. He has been shifting and changing and telling untruths in the public domain to try to get a political hit. As we can see, not only were they the architects of this very confusing scheme but they also made the same mistake.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: As I have highlighted, the fact is that even a Liberal treasurer, when the Leader of the Opposition was in cabinet, made the same mistake.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Listen to her. The document states that 'average residential customers will pay 22¢ a week more for water from July next year under prices announced today for the 2002-03 financial year.'

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: There is nothing in the document that says, 'By the way, you will start getting charged backdated to December.' You as a cabinet minister made the same mistake. You sat around the cabinet. The leader would not have had a clue. It has been a confusing system. The difference between the opposition and the government is that when we found out about it we apologised. The transparency statement the leader talks about is quite upfront. It was released in February.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Forgot to read it? I signed it into cabinet.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: What is the issue?

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Know what? It does not talk about the billing cycle. It is about a pricing structure.

The Hon. M.D. Rann: It's not talking about the billing cycle.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: It is about a pricing structure.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I intend to continue to battle through this screaming, ill-disciplined opposition to get the point across. The leader said that I should look at page 9. He makes us believe that this was a decision on the billing cycle. I do not know whether the billing cycle is mentioned elsewhere in the document, but I do not recall seeing it; I stand to be corrected. What I will say is that the bit to which the leader is referring is 'Price setting processes 2008-09'. It refers to price setting, not billing cycles. It states:

In November 2007 the government through cabinet approved the 2008-09 metropolitan and regional water and wastewater charges. For planning purposes a longer term in principle revenue direction to 2012-13 has been based on water and wastewater price increases of similar magnitude as that in 2008-09.

Yes, in November; and we gazetted in the first week of December. That was an orderly process. What is the big deal? What is the big surprise? That is exactly what occurred. What is your point?

Mr Williams: You have been promising everybody it was going to happen from 1 July.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: That is right. The member is right. Hello; the light has just turned on! The member for MacKillop has come to my rescue. He is right: we were saying that it would be 1 July. We made a mistake. We were wrong. I apologise. I cannot apologise any more.

Mr Williams: You keep apologising. Why are you wrong so often?

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Why am I wrong so often? Yes, I do such a bad job. I will let others be the judge of that, but I am prepared to admit that we got it wrong. Despite the pathetic attempts of the Leader of the Opposition—he as a cabinet minister made the same mistake—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The Leader of the Opposition was sitting around a cabinet table when his treasurer released a statement that made exactly the same mistake. I am not beating up on him: we did too. It just so happens that we now to have to explain it; they got away with it. You might be right: we were not that good in opposition. I always said that to the Premier: we were a lousy opposition. We only got rid of about two premiers and four ministers and we got into government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I have been able to demonstrate beyond any argument that you made the same mistake in a system that you invented. We fell foul of that as well. I apologise. Will you?

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