Question to the Minister for Housing and Infrastructure on the Finger Point Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade

Mr FATCHEN (Mount Gambier) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Housing Infrastructure. Will the recent $25 million investment in the Finger Point wastewater network upgrade increase the long-term capacity of the system to ensure current and future housing developments in Mount Gambier can proceed without delay? With your leave, ma'am, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr FATCHEN: Prior to the 2026 election, I met with a number of local developers who raised concerns about delays and uncertainty affecting housing projects due to limited wastewater network capacity and constraints within the SA Water system. Given the demand for new housing in our region, can the minister advise whether this investment will provide the capacity required to support future residential growth?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Housing Infrastructure, Minister for Planning) (14:42): I thank the member for Mount Gambier for his question and his interest in SA Water's infrastructure right across the state. We are making big investments to support not just housing but industrial growth as well and, of course, that is true in the South-East and in particular in Mount Gambier. He is right: there is $25 million currently being invested, not just in the Finger Point Wastewater Treatment Plant but also the broader network that feeds into it from Mount Gambier itself. All of that is about improving operational performance and service reliability for the current township, and that shouldn't be lost. It's not just about servicing growth; it's actually about making sure the current township is also provided for.

That $25 million is giving us things like a new hardstand cover shed, new dewatering equipment, and all of that helps reduce the reliance on sludge lagoons which are just as disgusting, I suppose, as they sound. All of that investment allows the equivalent of 800 residential allotments—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Flinders! And, minister, not helpful.

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —to be delivered over the next 12 to 15 years. Those opposite laugh about this stuff because they never put any upgrades, they never put any pipes in the ground and they never did any upgrades. They let it all pass them by when they were in government. That's why no-one can actually remember anything significant happening in the Marshall government. You had to struggle around to find something. It has almost gone from people's memories that they were in government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: What we are doing is investing in the regions, like the member for Mount Gambier, and of course all of that helps residential growth in the town of Mount Gambier.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: As I said before, one of the issues right across the state is doing these investments so we can reach agreement with developers. Those agreements are called DAFIs, and just over the last 24 months SA Water has executed 16 DAFIs representing 852 allotments in Mount Gambier. So there is actually quite a bit of work by SA Water and the development community in the town of Mount Gambier, which is a fast-growing regional city and an important regional city for our state.

We want to work with developers. It is important to work with developers when we are doing these things. Developers can sometimes raise reasonable asks—sometimes their asks can be unreasonable—but we try to work with them and give them an understanding of not just the water system but the wastewater system so they can properly plan for their developments as well.