Alison Joseph, Bullengarook
I believe there is evidence that the former Labor Government manipulated the Essential Services Commission’s 2008 Melbourne Water pricing decision, the decision that imposed Melbourne Water ‘waterway’ charges on Macedon Ranges property owners.
That the ESC then backdated these charges to 2005 clearly demonstrates that this was supposedly one of the charges for which the ESC had the power to set prices in 2005. However, the only relevant service for which the ESC could set prices was a ‘metropolitan drainage service’, which was defined by the ESC in 2005 as ‘the supply of drainage services by Melbourne Water’.
Melbourne Water has stated that the ‘waterway’ charges in Macedon Ranges are not for drainage services. The logical conclusion is that these charges have not been legally imposed. I have therefore written to Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission asking for a full investigation of the events surrounding the imposition of these charges on Macedon Ranges households. I would encourage anyone concerned about these charges to write to IBAC in support of my request for a thorough investigation of these matters.
