WATER CORPORATION —
FEES AND CHARGES
832. Dr
D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Water:
As
part of the budget, why has the minister not addressed Labor's water
tax of $400 a year on metropolitan households?
Ms S. Winton interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Wanneroo, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr D.J.
KELLY replied:
I
thank the member for the question. A bit earlier in question time, the
Treasurer gave an answer to a question and he said that he was going to release some costings of what the other side's
policies would cost the budget. It immediately came to mind: I hope the
Treasurer has included a costing on the Liberal Party's promise to
reduce water bills for every Western Australian
by $400, because that is the implication of the member's question. He
has been banging on and claiming that
we are overcharging by $400 per customer. There are about a million residential
Water Corporation customers in the
state. Treasurer, what is $400 times a million? I think that is about $400 million.
It is $400 million—pause—per year! Across the forward
estimates, according to the comment the member just made, that is $1.6 billion.
Member for Cottesloe, I just hope that the Treasurer has been listening
to this answer and he will include that when he releases the cost of the
Liberal Party's commitment to Parliament. What the member for Cottesloe
does not understand is that cost reflectivity for the Water Corporation is not
100 per cent. His claim that we are overcharging
Western Australian customers is just not right. Cost reflectivity across the
business is not 100 per cent.
What would happen to the budget
under the Liberal Party if it followed through with the intent of the member's
question—that is, $1.6 billion across the forward estimates? It would
also threaten the fact that regardless of where someone lived in Western Australia,
whether it be in Kununurra, Esperance or Cottesloe, they would pay the same
amount for up to 300 kilolitres of water. If the Liberal Party ever implemented
the policies it is talking about, that would
threaten the uniform tariff price for water in regional WA. In this year's
budget, we actually reduced the cost of water.
Dr D.J. Honey: No, you did
not.
Mr D.J. KELLY: The member
for Cottesloe said no, we did not. Again, I think the cost of water, including wastewater, is about $27. The water contribution
of the household model went down by about $27; I will check the figure.
But this year, water charges have gone down. Even I am surprised that the
member for Cottesloe does not know that.