Andrea Dawkins MP | Greens' Water spokesperson
Tasmania’s ailing water and sewerage infrastructure needs to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. The Liberals’ reckless and politicised handling of the matter, however, is almost beyond belief.
Sarah Courtney’s wild claims about household water and sewerage bills, and TasWater itself, don’t seem to be based on anything grounded in fact.
Miles Hampton, Chair of TasWater, has made it clear Ms Courtney’s claims are very questionable.
For a backbencher to be let loose, half-cocked and without real information is another example of the Hodgman Government’s irresponsible and reckless handling of the State’s water challenges.
We still haven’t seen any real detail from the State Government. There’s every reason for questions to be asked by local government, and the Chair of TasWater himself.
The Liberals have gone about this in a ham-fisted way. They’ve tried to bully councils and have provided no real details about how they plan to fix Tasmania’s water infrastructure, and how they can possibly deliver it in half the time, at a fraction of the cost.
It’s little wonder Mayors are getting so frustrated, TasWater are beside themselves and most Tasmanians are confused, with the lack of information coming from the government.
The Greens have questioned the government throughout this term on how they would tackle Tasmania’s ageing water and sewerage infrastructure. They ignored or played down our questions, until their sudden declaration they’d take over TasWater in March.
If the Liberals were really concerned they would have answered our questions, not ignored the issue. This is nothing more than an irresponsible ploy from the Liberals to use community fears about safe drinking water for political posturing in the lead up to an election.