Page 1841 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 June 2016
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It would also potentially, especially with meters that can be read remotely, allow Icon Water to do the billing in the same way electricity providers do the billing individually for units. The exact same provision could apply, especially with the new water meters that can be read remotely or, if it is possible, which I doubt it would be, water meters in a publicly accessible space.
The bill is straightforward. It does not involve major policy changes or significant cost to the government or to the community. In fact, we heard from those opposite that they support the principle. It was designed to correct an unfair situation where unit owners are being unfairly billed for water usage. As a result of Minister Corbell’s and Minister Rattenbury’s decision today, there is going to continue to be no financial incentive for people to save water in unit complexes. As a result of their decision today, thousands and thousands of litres will be wasted. And inequalities will be perpetuated in terms of the billing and charging for water usage because of their decision today. If they had taken a proactive response and looked at this bill before yesterday, maybe—just maybe—we could have worked on some amendments to alleviate some of the concerns that Minister Corbell spoke about. Instead, they would rather be lazy and stop the opposition from getting a bill up than get the right policy outcome and the right environmental outcome for Canberra.
The Canberra Liberals hoped that this bill would encourage people to take more care with the water they use. We hoped that it would have given opportunities for people to have saved money as well, for those who chose to be prudent with their water usage. The Canberra Liberals believe that it is fair to charge people for what they use. We also believe it is important to encourage people to conserve water. This bill was in response to concerns raised by constituents and strata managers over numerous years. We care about the practical matters that affect people’s lives on a daily basis.
This is one area in which the Assembly had an opportunity to make a real difference today. Instead, despite those opposite talking about water conservation and talking about fairness, their voting today is the absolute opposite. As a result of their decision today, thousands of litres of water will be wasted, and unfairness will be perpetuated.
It is disappointing that a government that boasts about caring for the environment will not support legislation that would make a significant difference to the amount of water that Canberrans use. Instead of taxing people or charging them for more water than they use, this bill provides a positive incentive for people to decide to use less water. If owners could install a submeter, they would be aware of how much they were using, and could take steps to reduce the usage and save money. When people link the amount on their water bill to the amount of water they actually use, they realise it is actually worth reducing their consumption. This is an argument that the government make repeatedly when they drive up the cost of water: they say that this will, hopefully, mean that people will be more responsive to the impact of this scarce resource. Instead, what they have done today is walk away from that commitment. Of course, there will be people who will not be happy to be charged for what they actually use. But perhaps being charged for what they actually use will encourage them to be more careful about the actual water consumption that they undertake.
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