Rolling the State Government’s five bulk water businesses into one would save consumers $6 million, opposition energy and water utilities spokesman Steve Dickson said yesterday.
While the government was now in the process of merging Water Secure, which is responsible for the Tugun desalination plant and the western corridor recycling plant, and SEQ Water, which runs dams and treatment facilities, Mr Dickson said greater efficiencies had to be achieved.
He said the four remaining businesses were populated by senior management structures all paid huge executive salaries.
“SEQ Water, Water Secure, Link Water, the water commission and the grid manager have a combined total of 37 executives on six-figure salaries,” Mr Dickson said.
“And guess where the Labor government finds the money to pay them. Through our water bills, of course.”
Mr Dickson said amalgamation of all bulk water businesses, as proposed in Campbell Newman’s four-point plan to limit water price rises, would reduce the number of executive general managers from 17 to four, board members from 16 to five, and chief executive officers from four to one.
“We’re not talking about job cuts to medium-wage public servants,” Mr Dickson said.
“This is about cutting loose Labor’s fat-cat bureaucrat buddies with their snouts in the trough.
“A great deal of that money would be better spent helping reduce water bills.”
Mr Dickson said that in Western Australia 16 upper-level managers controlled the delivery of water from all sources compared with 101 in south-east Queensland.
On its current course he said the government would keep raising bulk water costs to 2018.
“We should be looking at harvesting water and every other option to keep prices down,” Mr Dickson said.
“By amortising loans over a longer period, 40 to 50 years instead of 20 years, costs can be reduced further.
“There has been $7 billion to $9 billion spent by this government on water. We are not getting much bang for our buck.”
Mr Dickson said he was also concerned about the cost of long-term maintenance agreements for the Tugun desalination plant and the western corridor recycled-water scheme the government had signed with foreign companies.
While Premier Anna Bligh and Energy and Water Utilities Minister Stephen Robertson recently announced the move to merge SEQ Water and Water Secure, Mr Dickson said more drastic action was needed to help Queenslanders struggling with rising living costs.
“It’s not enough for the government to stand around pointing fingers anymore,” Mr Dickson said.
“I am calling on Mr Robertson to immediately amalgamate the four remaining bulk water entities and give consumers some relief.”
