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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-01 Daily Xml
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SA Water

Mr SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer provide a guarantee that the government will not add to the cost-of-living pressure by forcing up domestic and business water rates through the next SA Water regulatory determination? With your leave, sir, and of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr SPEIRS: Average household water bills rose by 232 per cent under the last period of Labor government. The Marshall government provided a saving of up to $245 a year on the average bill while I was the Minister for Environment and Water. The next SA Water regulatory determination will apply from July 2024. Water consumers are seeking a commitment from this government that it will not add to the cost-of-living pressures by deliberately inflating the asset base of SA Water through this regulatory process as Labor did last time they were in government.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:29): It's wonderful to get a question nearly halfway through the sitting week—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —when I hand down a budget. It has suddenly occurred to those opposite to ask the Treasurer a question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Hartley!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: I wonder what else is going on this week that might be of interest in the Treasury portfolio? Nonetheless, we have a question. The former Minister for Water has tried to outline to the house his bona fides when it comes to the management of the water portfolio. He is right: there is a new regulatory determination period coming up for SA Water, a period which starts in 2024 and which will guide the setting of water prices going forward.

Can I also say that he is absolutely right to draw the house's attention to the cost-of-living pressures which South Australians, like all Australians, are facing—in particular, petrol prices, which of course are severely impacting household budgets. It might be time for us to reflect on what that impact of petrol prices means for the overall cost of living on households. It means that there is less money for groceries.

The way in which governments have tried to provide relief, putting aside what we're going to do from tomorrow's budget with the Cost of Living Concession, the former federal Coalition government said that they would ease fuel excise for a temporary period—six months to September—and to pay for most of that they were going to withdraw the diesel rebate for the heavy vehicle industry.

Mr Telfer: That's not the way the system works. That's not the way it works.

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: So it will be temporarily cheaper for you to drive to the supermarket and it will be more expensive to buy goods at the supermarket as a result of that genius policy.

Mr Telfer interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Flinders is called to order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: So that's what we get from those opposite when it comes to cost of living. When it comes to the price of water—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Yes, here we go—here we go indeed because there are some government controls over setting the price of water. For example, the Minister for Water can issue a direction to SA Water about what costs should be included in that next determination period.

For example, the previous Minister for Water issued a direction to SA Water for them to incur more than $60 million of additional expenditure, which everybody across South Australia is going to pay for in order to fix up what we on this side recognised as a problem—that is, an egregious situation, where residents of the north-eastern suburbs don't have access to adequate sewerage services. We supported that. We supported him issuing that direction because he issued that direction to actually support the Labor opposition's policy. So that was a good thing that we supported.

But I've got to say that that is a government taking action to increase water bills for all South Australians. When the Leader of the Opposition says, 'Will you guarantee that the government will take no action to artificially increase the price of water?' well, let the record show—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: —that the former Minister for Water has already undertaken that action. He has already increased everybody's water bills. Not only did he do that in order to allegedly fix up a problem in the north-eastern suburbs but he inadequately did that and so all the prices and all the costs that SA Water are going to have to pay to finish that project are not provided for by that direction. What he has now left this government to do is to fill a black hole in the previous government's policy to fix up this issue.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Do you know what? I will guarantee that this Labor government will take the action that is necessary to deliver proper sewerage services to the people in the north-eastern suburbs—something that the previous minister, the now Leader of the Opposition, failed to do.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is called to order. The Treasurer is called to order. The member for Unley is called to order. The member for Hammond is called to order and warned.

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