The Minns Labor Government has ensured Central Coast Council has a clearer, simpler and less costly regularity framework for its water supply and sewerage services, and protects against privatisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until now, Central Coast Council was the only local body in NSW providing water services under two legislative Acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The passing of a Bill through Parliament yesterday ends that anomaly by removing the regulatory double-up and complexity, paving the way for better governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legislative changes provide a streamlined regulatory framework for incoming Councillors following next month\u2019s local government elections, while reducing costs and freeing Council up to perform its core role of providing essential services for the Central Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, it will help resolve some of the complexity that contributed to Central Coast Council being placed in administration in October 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Central Coast is the third largest water utility in the state after Sydney Water and Hunter Water. and This will bring Council\u2019s provision and regulation of water supply and sewerage services in-line with all other local governments across regional NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bill retains Council\u2019s control of water services and infrastructure, and the changes will not have any impact on customers, other than positive benefits that should flow from a better governed water and sewerage utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The changes are also specific to Central Coast Council and do not affect other councils or local water utilities across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bill comes off the back of a 2022 Public Inquiry into Central Coast Council which included widespread public consultation, and a Departmental review into the Council\u2019s water utility legislative and regulatory framework in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These changes align with stakeholder feedback, as well as the review\u2019s findings and recommendations to simplify the framework and make it more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Specifically, the Bill:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Importantly, the Bill also further commits to protect our water utility on the Central Coast from privatisation, by repealing the Central Coast Water Corporation Act and Central Coast Water Corporation Regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This will ensure Central Coast water remains in the hands of our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister for Water, Rose Jackson said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am thrilled this Bill has passed parliament to finally give residents greater confidence that their water services are being properly managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt comes after a Public Inquiry and a thorough review into Council\u2019s administrative operations, and after listening to feedback from the entire community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis Bill is a great outcome and fantastic news for people across the Central Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for the Central Coast and Member for Wyong, David Harris said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe passing of this Bill will give Central Coast Council more clarity to efficiently go about its job to best serve residents, businesses and customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cImportantly, the Bill protects our water utility on the Central Coast from privatisation to ensure water and sewerage remains in the hands of our Council and our community, which is great news for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minister for the Hunter and Member for Swansea, Yasmin Catley said<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe NSW Government has fulfilled its commitment to listen to and address the concerns of locals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEliminating unnecessary obstacles will pave the way for more time to deliver the things that matter most to the people of the Central Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLocals can now enjoy peace of mind, knowing that their water bills are being managed with care and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Member for The Entrance, David Mehan said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe great thing about our Bill is that it ensures our water service will remain locally owned and controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe simplification of regulation and IPART price oversight will make sure we are paying no more than we should for our water and sewer service.\u201d \u201cWith the passing of this Bill, the NSW Government has simplified the legislation controlling Central Coast water and sewerage services, taking the complexity out of Council governance and decision making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI welcome the passing of this Bill, which streamlines Council\u2019s regulatory structure and allows Council to get back to their core function, providing essential services to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Minns Labor Government has ensured Central Coast Council has a clearer, simpler and less costly regularity framework for its water supply and sewerage services, and protects against privatisation. Until now, Central Coast Council was the only local body in NSW providing water services under two legislative Acts. The passing of a Bill through Parliament … Continue reading “Regulation streamlined for Central Coast water”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28371,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28370\/revisions\/28371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n