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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-14 Daily Xml
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Water Pricing

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:08): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Water and the River Murray a question about water pricing in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: And this is not a fishing exercise: this is fact. In this chamber on Tuesday, I asked the honourable minister whether he agreed with Professor Richard Blandy that South Australia has the highest water prices in Australia. The minister informed this house that he did not know Mr Blandy and was not sure if Mr Blandy had actually made the statement concerning water prices and suggested I check my sources. I have taken notice of the minister's advice, and I have checked my source and facts. I quote from a document Mr Blandy put to the parliament in evidence on 27 April:

Water prices are very high in South Australia. In 2012-13, of Australia's top 10 urban water utilities SA Water had the highest overall bills, the highest water supply charges, and the highest usage charges. The highest average water bill was some 60 per cent higher than the average of the other nine jurisdictions. The highest average water usage charge for a residential customer was 36 per cent above the average of the other jurisdictions.

One more:

The highest annual water supply charge of $293 was 130 per cent above the average of these other jurisdictions.

Professor Blandy, who consequently tabled a letter from Premier Weatherill thanking him for his outstanding work as commissioner, particularly his work during the commencement of the independent economic water regulation, goes on to say he believes this government is in fact imposing a tax—a water tax—of about $275 million per annum on SA water consumers, which he says is largely hidden in SA Water's regulated asset base. So, they are the facts. My questions, therefore, to the minister are—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: You wouldn't know what the facts were.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: I am sorry, but I actually think I do.

The PRESIDENT: Just ask a question.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: My questions are:

1. Will the honourable minister now concede that we do have the highest water prices in the country?

2. Could the honourable minister explain why his government has restricted ESCOSA's regulation, if it isn't, as Professor Blandy believes, to keep prices high as a way of effectively taxing the public for water?

3. The third and final question, and I would love a factual answer on these three: will the minister agree to rescind the pricing orders it has issued to ESCOSA about how to regulate water and allow the independent regulator to actually be independent and get on with its job properly?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:11): Let me go through the information once more that I have given this house previously, and I will give it in a slightly different way. Let me just say this: I don't expect the honourable member to understand really how science works. I don't expect that at all, but let me just explain to him, and this is something he should have checked when he was checking his data.

When did Mr Dick Blandy, I think he said, give this evidence? Was it before or after the Bureau of Meteorology brought out its report? Was it before or after? On what was that evidence based? What was the data and what were the facts? Were they presented? How old were they? Were they in fact current or out of date? That's not something that the Hon. Mr Brokenshire comes into this chamber with—not up-to-date figures. When information changes, and it doesn't support his story, what does he do? He clings to old information that supports his preconceived position.

He doesn't change his mind when new facts and evidence come to the fore. No, that's not what he does. He holds tightly like a drowning man to data that supports his position. Factual or not, he doesn't care about that because he has already made up his mind, and he will hold on to what he has got even when new data comes forward to show he was completely wrong. So, that's what I suggest to the honourable member. Again, he comes into this chamber tangentially supporting positions of the Liberal opposition of getting rid of community service obligations and driving up prices for country consumers of water in this state. He wants to get rid of the—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: And the Hon. Mr Stephens supports it with a laugh across the chamber.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: You are a buffoon.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: He wants to get rid of the postage stamp pricing for water in this state.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Point of order, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: One second; sit down. The Hon. Mr Stephens is totally unparliamentary in calling someone a buffoon across the chamber, so I really think you should withdraw that.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: I withdraw.

The PRESIDENT: Good. The Hon. Mr Brokenshire, a point of order.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: My point of order is that the minister is making statements to you in this house that are not true. I want a better go for country people, not what he is saying.

The PRESIDENT: It's not a point of order. The honourable minister, finish your answer, please.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Thank you, Mr President. We clearly have a different point of view as to what is going to be better for country South Australians. He thinks, get rid of postage stamp pricing: I say, no way, Jose, because that will actually drive up the cost of water for people in regional South Australia—something the Hon. Mr Brokenshire doesn't care about and something the Liberal opposition don't care about.

The latest National Performance Report was conducted by the Bureau of Meteorology and released on 7 May 2015. NPRs benchmark the pricing and service quality of Australian water utilities. NPRs are produced jointly by the Bureau of Meteorology, state and territory governments and the Water Services Association of Australia.

The release of this NPR is the ninth in the series and the first to be produced by BoM. The National Water Commission has previously produced the NPRs, but BoM has taken over the role of producing the NPRs since the National Water Commission's recent disbandment—well, abandonment, really—by the federal government, as they have abandoned any other organisation that wants to teach them things about scientific data. The NPR covers approximately 150 performance metrics and indicators including water resources, finance, pricing, assets, health, environment and customers.

Based on estimated water consumption of 200 kilolitres per customer per annum, a comparison of interstate water and sewerage bills reveals that, in 2013-14, SA Water had the ninth lowest estimated water and sewerage bill out of 13 utilities. As I said this time, the last time I was asked this, and the time before, this analysis includes only utilities with at least 100,000 connected properties, so we can compare apples with apples.

Logan in Queensland, Gold Coast Water, Unitywater in Queensland and Yarra Valley Water in Victoria were more expensive than SA Water in that analysis. Based on typical residential water consumption (the actual average annual volume of residential water consumed for each utility), a comparison of interstate water and sewerage bills reveals that in 2013, SA Water had the 10th lowest typical water and sewerage bill out of 13 utilities. SA Water had the 10th lowest typical water and sewerage bill out of 13 utilities, and again, Mr President—

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

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Again, Mr President, this analysis includes only utilities with at least 100,000 connected properties. These are the figures produced in a national performance report by the Bureau of Meteorology.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink: Provided by SA Water.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: And the data is provided by every other water utility, Hon. Michelle Lensink. Where do you think they get the information from?

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

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Where do you think they get the information from?

The PRESIDENT: Minister, have you finished your answer?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: No.

The PRESIDENT: Well, don't buy into interjections; just finish your answer.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: You are absolutely right, Mr President; I shouldn't listen to ignorance. SA Water has undertaken a similar comparison of water and sewerage bills—and this is where SA Water has done it, as I said the last time I was asked this question and the time before that—based on 2014 prices and water consumption of 200 kilolitres per customer per annum. This comparison, as I have said previously, is not restricted to only utilities with at least 100,000 connected properties.

In the BoM's NPR, some smaller Queensland water providers are grouped together for the sake of BoM's analysis. However, SA Water's internal analysis treats all water providers as separate, which is why the NPR's analysis compares 13 providers, whilst SA Water's internal analysis compares against 20 water utilities. SA Water's internal comparison shows that SA Water has the ninth lowest estimated total water and sewerage bill out of 20 utilities.

All of the Queensland utilities rank higher than SA Water, along with the Northern Territory's Power and Water and Victoria's Yarra Valley Water. When comparing single-service only, using the 200 kilolitre methodology, SA Water has the 12thlowest water-only bill and the fourth lowest sewerage-only bill out of 20 utilities. If the honourable member is honest, he will update his thinking, look at the new data and change his position. But I will not hold my breath.

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