Andrea Dawkins MP | Greens' Water spokesperson
Minister Gutwein's options to councils for the funding of water and sewerage upgrades are cynical and politically motivated.
Mr Gutwein has ignored the serious state of Tasmania's water and sewerage infrastructure for almost 3 years. That it's taken him this long to come up with a handful of politicised dot points is unacceptable.
Peter Gutwein has shown no leadership and no willingness to work with Local Government to fix the State's ailing water and sewerage infrastructure. He's bullied councils into a corner, based on his own political agenda.
Providing safe drinking water to Tasmanians has not been a priority of this government. For the Liberals, politics trumps people.
The only option Mr Gutwein seems ready to consider is a State Government takeover. It's unclear what the takeover process would be, and what it would mean for Councils or households.
The government claims in their options presented today that “TasWater ownership structure complicates government intervention”. This is bizarre considering they provided grants to TasWater in 2015/16.
The Minister needs to properly articulate his claims, and his plan.
Governments are elected to provide for the community, and to lead. It's unacceptable and irresponsible that Peter Gutwein's response to fixing the State's ailing water and sewerage infrastructure has been bullying councils in the hope they will give into his demands.