Selwyn Johnston… Independent Advocate

At present in South East Queensland thirteen (13) Mayors, including the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, are taking on the Bligh State Labor Government over the price the State Government will pay when it assumes control over ratepayer-owned water supplies.

At present the State Government, while claiming to have not yet fixed a price, seems to be happy talking around the $2 billion mark while the combined Councils seem to be saying that $6 billion is more like a the figure Councils would consider. It seems a foregone conclusion that the State Government will take the water… the only question is the price.

Just why the State Government is taking the water is probably the question that the Mayors and their Councils should be asking. Many Councils presently make a small profit on their water operations and if it is taken over by the State Government this profit that some of the Councils make from the sale of water will have to come from another source. That is Council rates or some other charges will have to go up.

Perhaps the most pertinent question that should be asked is just why does the State Government want to acquire the water assets from Queensland Local Governments? After all the Local Governments have made not a bad fist of running their water businesses, which is more than can be said for the State Government that has simply failed to provide the infrastructure necessary to keep the population supplied with potable drinking water. In fact the infrastructure achievements of the Goss, Beattie and Bligh Labor State Governments could only be described as an embarrassment.

Getting to the hub of the matter, the State Government doesn’t want the water as it’s own asset, it wants to acquire it so it can be “bundled” and sold off to private enterprise.

Once again they will be heroes for a day spending the money they get from the sale but you can be assured that it will not go into another essential asset. What happens then is that the population has no recourse regarding either the cost or availability of water. It will be no good going to the Government to complain because not only will the Government have divested the asset but hidden in the small print of the contract of sale will be an obscure clause that says that anything the government does to adversely affect the profits of the acquiring company will be fully commensurable by the Government.

Have a look at some of the tunnel contracts in New South Wales signed by the Carr Labor Government if you have any doubts in this regard.

Of course, any subsequent government will be contractually bound and unless there is a time limit, which would be a 30-year minimum, then we are locked in forever. History shows that most of this type of sale is snapped up by multinational companies as they have both the funding and the experience to gain the tenders. They are generally competitive because they can take a loss for a few years and the profits are sent overseas, at a concessional taxation rate, which means it’s difficult for local companies to compete in any case. And that’s just for starters.

The word is don’t relax simply because this is going on in Southern Queensland. You can rest assured that this type of business is coming to a water supply near you. Anything in the “wet tropics” is particularly at risk and locally in the Cairns area, Nullinga Dam on the Walsh River, Copperload and Tinaroo Dams are all good little potential money spinners, just waiting for some cashed up multinational to make an offer to some incompetent Government that is a little financially stressed at the time.

Few people would know, but recently Australia prematurely lost a truly great Australian with the passing of Peter Andren. Peter was an honest, well-respected and experienced person who also happened to be the Independent Member for the New South Wales Federal Electorate of Calare.

Even fewer people will remember that the Howard Government put through legislation to sell the Snowy Mountains Scheme. It almost flew through the House of Representatives with only Peter Andren (Independent Member for Calare) and Tony Windsor, [Independent Member for New England] opposing it.

But the sale never went ahead and this was only as a result of representations made to the Prime Minister by those two dissenting Independent Members. Consequently the legislation was never acted on and the Snowy Mountains Scheme remains in the hands of the Australian people.

If our Governments can successfully hold and operate the Snowy Mountains Scheme, the implementation of a National Water Grid must be Australia’s next great infrastructure project.

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