Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-05-24 Daily Xml

Contents

SA Water

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:27): I have a supplementary question arising from the answer in which the minister tried to imply that ESCOSA directs how SA Water expends its funds. I quote from an ESCOSA document—and can the minister reflect on his answer—where it states:

The expenditure benchmarks set by the Commission for the purpose of determining regulated revenues do not dictate the actual amount of expenditure that SA Water must incur or how SA Water should direct its expenditure. Rather, SA Water is responsible for managing its daily network operations and maintaining supply reliability and services to customers; it must decide appropriate expenditures to meet its obligations and to maintain the long-term integrity of its networks.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:28): And they sign off and say, 'That is a prudent amount of expenditure.' Here we are, the document that the Hon. Michelle Lensink supposedly supports the Liberal Party putting out, which talks about pipe network renewal for the 2015-16 budget and right above—and I seek leave to table this document which comes from the budget statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: What did they miss? They have missed the Hackney and North East Road trunk water main renewal March 2016, $13 million. They did not add that into their figures because it was not convenient. It did not fit the story they were trying to peddle, the story they were trying to con people with. So $13 million was completely missed by Mr Pisoni, the member for Unley, in the other place. Why? Because he has no clue about how to read budget papers.