Gutwein’s quick start

Treasurer says state won’t lose momentum in water takeover

TREASURER Peter Gutwein says a State Government acquisition of TasWater will not encounter the same slow start that the water and sewerage utility encountered when officially formed in 2013.

Yesterday the Legislative Council select committee into the State Government’s proposed takeover of TasWater held its second day of hearings.

Mr Gutwein continued his pitch that a State Government controlled TasWater would be better for the state. He said it would not encounter any major timing difficulties in getting on with the job of improving Tasmania’s water and sewerage systems as the takeover was just a transfer of ownership.

“We are not merging a business here, which happened when the four entities merged before,” Mr Gutwein said.

“The employees will transfer to the GBE ... it will still be the same business; the amount of disruption will be minor.”

TasWater was formed when Ben Lomond Water, Cradle Mountain Water and Southern Water and common services provider company Onstream merged.

But TasWater chairman Miles Hampton said he couldn’t see anything different if the State Government took the utility over.

“What I observed was lost momentum in the former corporations,” he said.

“Whether it’s four years I can’t say, but you do lose significant momentum.”

Under the Government’s plan TasWater’s improvements to water and sewerage infrastructure will be sped up from 10 years to five years at a cost of $1.8 billion, $300 million more than TasWater’s plan.

Asked by Mersey MLC Mike Gaffney about whether TasWater had contemplated matching the Government’s promises for a state-owned company, Mr Hampton said the board had.

“We gave consideration to whether we should match the acceleration and pricing,” Mr Hampton said. “But every time we rush we run the risk of suboptimal solutions.”

“And if we wanted to match them [the State Government] I suspect they would have come back with a lower price.”

TasWater was asked to return to the committee to give more evidence.

Representatives of the Hobart City Council also fronted the committee, with general manager Nick Heath saying after 2024 there was no guarantee that the city and ratepayers would receive any compensation for the loss of assets.