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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-05-17 Daily Xml
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SA Water

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:26): If the minister cannot advise that (which clearly he can't) can he advise how many residents and businesses affected by burst water mains he has apologised to in the last two weeks?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:27): I again thank the honourable member. Of course, as she would probably realise, because she is an avid listener to my appearances in the media, I have always expressed sympathy with people who have been—

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Not very parliamentary, the Hon. Ms Lensink.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: No, that was more of a cackle; it was not a laugh. Minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Mr President, I draw your attention to some rulings by your federal colleague—I think the member for Mackellar, was it?—about inappropriate laughter. You might want to consider that record in your deliberations on such an important matter.

The PRESIDENT: Answer the question, minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Thank you, Mr President.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Yes, indeed. I have always expressed our concern that SA Water responds to community needs as best they can. I think honourable members will recall from the SA Water water mains incident at Paradise in recent times that, in fact, we expressed the view that SA Water needs to relate to the community better.

Of course, the technicians are out doing their job and closing down the mains, but they are not often the best-placed people to communicate with the residents who are impacted. SA Water have a team in place which goes out now and talks to the community about the delays and talks to the community about when they expect water to be reconnected. If appropriate, and if requested, they provide them with packaged water and convey to them all the information they need to know in terms of subsequent loss or damage to their property.

We are keenly aware of the need for SA Water to become more community responsive, and they have put in place a team who will do that work alongside the technical crew who are repairing the mains at that point in time. That is all to the well; we hope that works successfully for them, and that is a responsive way for SA Water to talk to the people who it is impacting through the wastewater mains.

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