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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-17 Daily Xml
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Water Pricing

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:20): My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Can the minister inform the house how people in my electorate of Newland in the north-eastern suburbs are set to benefit from the Marshall Liberal government's massive water bill reductions and investment in key infrastructure?

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:20): I thank the member for Newland for his question. He is an endless—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is close to the edge today.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —advocate for the electors that he represents, and it is always good to hear that advocacy. There is no doubt that the relief that is being provided by the Marshall Liberal government's dramatic reset of the way that water bills and sewerage connections are calculated in this state is going to make an incredible difference to people who are connected to SA Water services all across the state.

The member for Newland asked specifically about the north-eastern suburbs and the electorate that he is privileged to represent, and that is, of course, an area which will benefit in a number of ways from the reforms that this government is making to the way that we undertake not only water and sewerage charging in this state but also the substantial extension of the level of service being provided in different parts of this state.

We see it with the CWMS coming over to SA Water in the north-eastern suburbs, and we see it with the resetting of the way that water prices are calculated. We have acknowledged the flows in the way that the previous government overinflated the regulated asset base to falsely reach a calculation on the way that SA Water bills were devised, and we are now able to hand back substantial reductions in water bills to households and businesses across the state—an average of $200 per household across the state and an average of $1,350 to South Australian businesses.

If we focus right in on the member for Newland's electorate, the suburb of Banksia Park—and I had the pleasure of visiting Banksia Park with the member for Newland last Friday morning—the median house price is $455,000 for reasonable usage of water. Those households will save $230 to $310 per annum, and for those households that use a good amount of water the savings will be $290 to $420 per year on average.

These figures are not figures that we should turn up our nose at: these are significant amounts of relief being handed back to the household. When it comes to turning up our nose, one of the things that the constituents in the north-east continually have to do is to turn up their nose at the smell of raw sewage in their gardens, on their driveways, going down their streets and into creeks, and that is why the Marshall Liberal government has made a commitment to transfer the outdated, dilapidated community wastewater treatment system into SA Water infrastructure and ensure that that becomes part of SA Water's assets.

We can work alongside that community to give them the service that they deserve, a service which includes robust, efficient infrastructure and a service which is much, much cheaper than the year-on-year hikes that were being implemented by the City of Tea Tree Gully in order to manage and upgrade that CWMS. We know that wasn't working, and we know that the member for Newland has been a strong and continual advocate for the improvement of that system.

In fact, he has approached me about it pretty much every month since I became the minister since he became a member of parliament. I should also acknowledge the member for Florey—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —and her continual advocacy for this matter. She has written to me a number of times as well. I have actually had a letter from the education minister on this matter. Do you know who has never written to me on this matter, Mr Speaker? The member for Wright—never once. Lots on social media in the last few weeks after the oxymoron, the Labor Listens tour occurred, and the epiphany is part of the oxymoron tour that there was something wrong with the CWMS. Well, that epiphany was needed because after 16 years of government we had nothing from Labor, but this government is delivering—thanks to the member for Newland.

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