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June 14th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The Victorian premier must show leadership to ensure Melbourne water consumers are treated fairly after being overcharged more than $300 million for the desalination plant, critics say.
The premier said slugging water consumers for the desalination plant despite it not being operational yet was a “hiccup” in payment for the Labor-initiated project, which will span over 27 years.
A Melbourne Water spokesman said the charge for the desalination plant would continue under its current five-year financial plan, which continues until June 30 next year.
No completion date for the desalination plant has been announced, with the testing phase not expected to finish until February 2013.
The premier said the Essential Services Commission would determine how the money, with interest, would be returned in the next billing cycle that runs from July next year to the end of June, 2018.
He said the plant’s completion and payment for it had not aligned but consumers would be charged in the end regardless.
“Water consumers have to pay – that was determined by the previous government,” he told reporters.
“Everybody has to pay, that is the fact.”
Council on the Ageing acting chief executive David Craig says it’s imperative the premier ensure consumers are properly treated.
“The premier needs to show leadership on this issue to ensure that Victorians are treated fairly,” he told AAP.
Single pensioner, Maria Garzo, of Strathmore, said the premier had been soft and “wishy-washy” on the issue.
She said it was only fair the money should be returned immediately, rather than over a number of years.
“I’m 79 and in five years’ time I’ll probably be pushing up daisies, I hope I’m not, but well anything can happen in five years and what happens with the money?” Ms Garzo told AAP.
She said $177 – the estimated average amount householders have been overcharged – was a significant sum.
“To millionaires it wouldn’t be anything but to pensioners it is,” she said.
“It can make a difference in a lot of things.”
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