State authorities have a short memory when it comes to water supply for Redland City.
An independent commission has handed down a recommendation that the Queensland Government increase the price of its water bill to the Redland City Council by an average of 9.2 per cent annually for the next three years. This will deliver a savage bill to ratepayers of about an extra $40 a year over that time.
The announcement is not welcomed in the Redlands where the viable water supply of many years ago was arbitrarily taken over by the state government in its hysterical rush to set up the controversial south east water grid to resolve the obvious short comings of adequate infrastructure planning by government and other councils.
Successive Redland councils, going back years, had the foresight to pinpoint water as a crucial issue and set up infrastructure, including the pipeline to North Stradbroke Island, to meet future demands. This infrastructure was taken over by the state government to meet demand in the grid and now we will be paying increases over the next three years and premium prices beyond.
The authority handed down its final Seqwater Bulk Water Price review last week in which it recommended the price rises for the Redlanders. The only ray of light in this gloomy outcome is that the authority upheld its December recommendation to give Redland water users an extra two years to catch up and match the state-wide regulated common price for bulk water.
The aim of the authority is to have all water users in council areas across the south east paying $2.96 per kilolitre for their water.
On the road to reach this parity reveals that Redland water users will pay $2.16 per kilolitre next financial year before the price rises to $2.36 in 2016; $2.56 in 2017; $2.76 in 2018. That compares with 2015-16 recommendations of $2.66 per kilolitre for Brisbane; $2.68 for the Gold Coast and $2.59 for Ipswich.
Residents need to remember that the state government now controls bulk water costs, not council, which only administers the charges.
Consequently, the announcement of new water rates can only be met with cynicism by Redland water users, as this has become another chapter in the diabolical treatment we have been dished out by the government following the take over and control of our water.
Successive Redland councils worked hard, over many years, to lay the foundations for a sound and viable water system, only to see it taken over by the government to supplement its controversial water grid.
While council received compensation from the state over its intervention; the move marked the end of any hope of fair and equitable water from an infrastructure system for which ratepayers had already paid.
Yes, Redlands has been let down over water and now with a new state government our elected representatives must take a strong stand to orchestrate a better long-term arrangement as due reward for what council put in place over many years.
