Water Act 2000

The key commercialisation principles are the following—

principle 1—clarity of objectives;

principle 2—management autonomy and authority;

principle 3—accountability for performance;

principle 4—competitive neutrality.

The elements of principle 1 are as follows—

the water authority will have clear, non-conflicting objectives;

specific financial and non-financial performance targets will be set for the commercial activities of the water authority and stated in its performance plan;

any community service obligations of the water authority will be—

clearly identified in its performance plan; and

separately costed;

the water authority will be appropriately funded for its community service obligations and any funding will be made apparent;

the water authority will be set performance targets for its community service obligations.

The elements of principle 2 are as follows—

the water authority will be required to use its best endeavours to ensure it meets its performance targets;

subject to this Act, the water authority will be given autonomy in its day-to-day operations;

government directions for the water authority to achieve non-commercial objectives will be exercised in an open way;

in its day-to-day operations, the water authority will be at arms-length to the State.

The elements of principle 3 are as follows—

the water authority’s board will be accountable to the Minister for the authority’s performance;

the authority’s performance plan will form the basis for accountability;

the authority’s performance will be monitored by the chief executive against the performance targets specified in its performance plan;

government monitoring of the authority is intended to compensate for the absence of the wide range of monitoring to which corporations whose shares are listed on a stock exchange are subject.

The elements of principle 4 are as follows—

the efficiency of overall resource use is promoted by ensuring markets are not unnecessarily distorted;

wherever possible and appropriate, advantages and disadvantages accruing to the water authority because it is a statutory authority should be removed.

Without limiting subsection (5)(b), advantages accruing to the water authority may be removed by requiring the authority—

to pay to the State amounts equivalent to—

government taxes that are not otherwise payable by the authority to the Commonwealth, State or local government; and

any cost of funds advantage the authority obtains over commercial rates of interest because of State guarantees given for providing the goods or services; and

to comply with Commonwealth, State and local government requirements that apply only if the activity carried on by the authority were carried on by a private sector business, including, for example, requirements about protecting the environment and planning and approval processes.