Darling River Food and Fibre - S6612 - IPART

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REVIEW OF BULK WATER PRICES FROM 2005/06 SUBMISSION TO IPART PO BOX 84 BOURKE NSW 2840 PH: 02 6872 2833 FAX: 02 6872 1072 Email: drff@bigpond.com April 2005 Prepared by: Ian Cole President & David Cordina Executive Officer
1 INTRODUCTION Darling River Food and Fibre agrees that water users should contribute to the costs associated with water operations on the unregulated section of the Barwon-Darling River. Extractive water users however, such as irrigators and industry, are not the only “water users” who should be responsible for cost recovery of water resource management. Other legitimate water users may include passive and active recreationists, domestic and stock water users and the environment in general. Where these other water users are beneficiaries of the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources’ (DIPNR’s) water resource management, cost recovery for expenditure should be spread across all user groups. DIPNR’s submission to the IPART Review of Bulk Water Prices from 2005/06 is disappointing in that it is incomplete and proposes to continue its current pricing regime for an additional water year. The indicative costing information lacks detail and accountability for its financial operations. It is hoped that the proposed “medium term submission” is provided in a timely manner, clarifying exactly where every dollar is spent and how the Department plans to recovery these costs. Darling River Food and Fibre is principally concerned with water pricing on the unregulated section of the Barwon-Darling River, however, some of the issues may apply to unregulated rivers in general. The submission by State Water Corporation (SWC), who will only be responsible for meter reading and billing under contract to DIPNR, is not particularly relevant to this submission. It would be anticipated, though, that DIPNR fully detail the costs associated with SWC’s contracted services in their medium term pricing submission. 2 IPART WATER PRICE REVIEW SWC will contract to DIPNR for meter reading and billing services for unregulated rivers such as the Barwon-Darling River. They have no other responsibilities in water delivery or water resource management. Therefore, DIPNR must detail these contracting costs in their cost estimates. DIPNR’s submission to the IPART Review of Bulk Water Prices from 2005/06 is incomplete, lacking transparency and accountability and uses the recent changes in water management as an excuse for their lack of compliance with IPART requirements. The submission promises a medium term pricing proposal in the second half of 2005 to take effect by 1 July 2006. This seems to be a weak attempt to DARLING RIVER FOOD & FIBRE INCORPORATED PO BOX 84 BOURKE NSW 2840 PH: 02 6872 2833 FAX: 02 6872 1072 1
Page 1: 18 April 2005 Mr Nigel Rajaratnam I
Page 5 and 6: eflects increased WRM costs associa
Page 7: unregulated (and regulated) rivers

Darling River Food and Fibre - S6612 - IPART

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