Page 3202 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
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Specifically, in 2013-14 Icon Water offered a range of redundancies: the chief financial officer, the general manager, water, the company secretary and the deputy chief executive officer. How is it that you can make those positions redundant? The chief financial officer gets made redundant? Is that position now redundant? The value of the redundancies was $1.39 million. Is there no longer a CFO? Is there no longer a general manager, water? Is there no longer a company secretary? Is there no longer a deputy chief executive officer? Perhaps those actual names no longer exist but I find it very hard to believe that those jobs no longer exist. It begs the question: why were those redundancies actually paid?
There are many questions about how Icon Water is operating and I think that we as an Assembly have a long way to go in order to get to the bottom of what is actually the best governance and operational model for Icon Water.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tertiary Education, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (4.52): Icon Water has committed to providing a safe, secure and sustainable water supply for Canberra and the region. In recent years it has established a diverse portfolio of water supply sources to reduce the likelihood of water restrictions into the future. In addition to the enlargement of the Cotter Dam, Icon has invested in water transfer infrastructure from new sources along the Murrumbidgee River that will further reduce the likelihood of future water restrictions.
These initiatives, together with the significant conservation efforts of the Canberra community, mean that we are unlikely to require water restrictions in the immediate future. However, if the dry conditions we are experiencing across the east coast of Australia continue or indeed worsen in the coming two years, temporary water restrictions may then need to be considered. This is a prudent course of action.
As our city grows, Icon Water has forecast an increase in the demand for water over the four-year budget period. The charges to Icon Water customers for water and sewerage reflect the ICRC’s water price determination which will see an inflation level increase of around 1.9 per cent in the 2019-20 fiscal year. The charges that are provided by the ICRC’s determination put Icon Water’s typical residential bill in the lower than average categories of comparable Australian jurisdictions.
In the coming period Icon Water will pursue renewable energy generation projects such as the installation of solar panels at operational sites to offset some of its electricity costs, and Icon Water’s business strategy enables it to continue to meet its obligations to balance price, quality, reliability and sustainability to its customers and to the community. I commend the appropriation to the Assembly.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
ACT Executive—Part 1.16
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
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