Queensland Budget Announcements Affecting Urban Water
Date: 29-Jun-2017
There have been a proliferation of announcements over the last couple of days following the State Budget and the following short list compiled with the help of LGAQ represents those deemed of specific relevance or likely interest to urban water service providers:
The Government will provide additional funding of $92 million in 2012-13 to deliver rebates of up to $80 per domestic water connection in South East Queensland fulfilling an election commitment. There is no commensurate relief or program announcements affecting the remainder of the state.
- The merger of South East Queensland bulk water entities still hasn’t been finalised in the budget (see eFlash #174). Accordingly, the 2012-13 Budget estimates have been prepared on a business as usual basis.
- The Government will achieve savings of $14 million in 2012-13 from a decision to make voluntary, the participation of councils in the Queensland Water Fluoridation Program. Approximately 87% of the State's population is currently receiving fluoride through reticulated supplies. Funding is available to reimburse fluoride infrastructure costs for councils that opt to fluoridate water supplies. Please note: as per previous e-flashes, (see eFlash #171) there is no further guidance available at this stage and some inconsistency in media reports (and ministerial statements). We anticipate formal announcements through Queensland Health in the coming weeks.
- The Department has included “water service and sewage regulatory reduction initiatives” into their performance statement. qldwater, LGAQ and industry technical groups have been contributing to these various initiatives.
- The 30 year plan for Queensland’s water supply sector (see eFlash #176) has also been officially added to the performance statement and again, qldwater and LGAQ are heavily involved in the early phase consultation. The broader discussion paper is expected to be published in December.
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