Water Pricing

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:29): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray questions about sewerage charges.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: The Liberal Party has again been contacted by constituents in regional South Australia regarding disparities in their treatment compared to metropolitan residents, and in particular this is in relation to SA Water sewerage charges. The sewerage charge is determined by the minimum quarterly yearly charge which for the next financial year will be $87.85 or, and I quote:

A charge based on a percentage capital of your property (referred to as a rate in the dollar): the rate in the dollar differs for properties based in country and metropolitan locations and for residential and non-residential customers.

The increase in the charge will be 3.4 per cent for country as compared to 2.9 per cent for metropolitan customers. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister please explain why regional residents are going to face a higher increase than metropolitan residents?

2. Is this issue covered by ESCOSA's current pricing inquiry?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. It is probably a question she might like to ask of the appropriate minister every year because it is the same configuration that has been going up year on year. Sewerage charges for country residents are charged at half a per cent higher than they are for metropolitan residents, and that is clearly because property values in the country are significantly less than they are in the metropolitan area. Effectively, what is happening in the country areas is that sewerage charges are at a much lower rate in the dollar based on property charges than they are for metropolitan users.

The government has been trying to bring the two prices very slowly over a period of time to some sort of equality of apportionment of costs and has been increasing sewerage charges in rural and regional areas by half a per cent for a number of years now. I still understand—and I have not glanced at my briefing at the moment—that sewerage charges in rural and regional areas are about 11 per cent currently less than they are in the metropolitan area. I might have to come back and correct that, but that is from my recollection; that is the basis.

The basis is that metropolitan property prices are much higher than they are in the country, so to try to bring some equality the government has been increasing sewerage charges by half a per cent more than in the metropolitan area for a number of years now but the gap is still quite wide. Country customers are still paying significantly less for sewerage than they would if they were in the metropolitan area.