There was much ado about water in the Tasmanian headlines last week.
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Premier Will Hodgman and Treasurer Peter Gutwein have been on a water tour, with doorstops at Bicheno on the East Coast and at Westbury highlighting the urgency of the government’s takeover proposal.
Last week, an Infrastructure Tasmania report was also released by the government, which gave independent support to the TasWater takeover.
The report supported claims made by the government that TasWater’s capital works program could be achieved much quicker if financed and controlled by the government.
In addition the Tamar Estuary Taskforce will also meet for the first time next month to try and address the issues facing the health of Launceston’s river.
On Sunday, Mr Gutwein released draft legislation on the takeover, detailing how they propose to take back ownership of the company from the state’s 29 councils and bring it under a single government business enterprise.
The release of the draft legislation has been highly anticipated as the government begins to provide concrete details on how it will pay for and manage TasWater’s assets and works program. The reaction to the TasWater takeover has been mixed – with the local government sector largely denouncing the plan and TasWater itself also distancing itself from the plan.
However there is one sector of voices that has yet to be heard strongly– the rate/taxpayers of Tasmania.
Whether TasWater is owned by the local government sector or the state government, taxpayers will still have to foot the bill to ensure they have access to quality water for all their needs.
There are two sides to every story and both sides of this debate have been heard loud and clear.
In one corner, you have the state government, who say Tasmania’s ‘boil water’ and ‘do not consume alerts’ have been going on for far too long and constitute a ‘crisis’ for water management.
In the other corner there is the local government sector and TasWater themselves who both acknowledge the alerts but say TasWater’s 10-year capital works plan will adequately address those issues.
The draft legislation can be found online and is open for public comment. Which side will you be on?