Negotiation Forum

The Commission established the Negotiation Forum as one of the ways for stakeholders to thoroughly scrutinise and test SA Water’s draft regulatory business proposal before it is submitted to the Commission in October 2019. The Negotiation Forum was comprised of the Customer Negotiation Committee, SA Water Negotiation Team, and an Independent Probity Advisor. 

The SAW RD20 Negotiation Forum held a series of meetings from February 2019 through to June 2019. The meetings allowed the Customer Negotiation Committee to test and constructively challenge how SA Water’s draft plans for the next regulatory period would provide water and sewerage services at the lowest sustainable price for the quality and reliability levels valued by customers.

Customer Negotiation Committee members

The Commission has established the Customer Negotiation Committee to elicit and represent the perspectives, preferences and priorities of SA Water’s diverse customer base in the Negotiation Forum to challenge SA Water as it prepared its proposed business plan for the 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2024 regulatory period. the next regulatory period.

The Customer Negotiation Committee was comprised of an Independent Chairperson, a member of the Consumer Experts Panel and a member of SA Water’s Customer Working Group.

The Commission has also appointed an Independent Probity Advisor to oversee the meetings and negotiations of the Negotiation Forum.

Mr John Hill PSM – Independent Chairperson, Customer Negotiation Committee

John spent his working career in the South Australian Department of Treasury and Finance, retiring in 2003 as Deputy Chief Executive. His experience spanned all the main activities of the Department including budget formulation, economic policy, Commonwealth-State financial relations, insurance and risk management, accounting policy and corporate support. Late in 2017, he was appointed to the position of Parliamentary Budget Officer, heading a small group of seconded Treasury officers providing policy costing services to candidates for the 2018 South Australian election. The appointment concluded on 30 June 2018.

From the time of his retirement until the present, he has served on the boards of numerous Government and not-for-profit organisations, including most recently, the National Disability Insurance Agency, the Essential Services Commission of South Australia and as Treasurer of Meals on Wheels SA Inc. During those years, he has also served on numerous audit and risk management committees, including as Chair.

Mr Mark Henley– Member, Customer Negotiation Committee (appointed from the Consumer Experts Panel)

Mark is an economist and has worked in community services for 40 years. He is currently employed (part time) by Uniting Communities (SA) as Manager of Advocacy and Communication. Mark is a Life Member of the South Australian Council of Social Service. He was the inaugural President of the Youth Affairs Council of Australia, past President of the SA Branch of the Economics Society of Australia and a member of the Australian Council of Social Service Board.

Mark has longstanding commitments to reducing the costs of essential services and has also advocated for gambling harm reduction, reductions in homelessness, improved labour market transitions for young people and a fairer tax system. He is a member of the Australian Energy Regulator’s Consumer Challenge Panel, an inaugural member of the national small energy consumers Roundtable, a member of the Essential Services Commission (SA) Consumer Advisory Committee and currently sits on a number of other consumer reference groups for essential service providers and regulators.

Ms Meg Clarke – Member, Customer Negotiation Committee (appointed from SA Water’s Customer Working Group)

Meg has recently retired from a career in the South Australian Government health and community services sector, principally in the areas of injury prevention, community safety, rural health and disability services.

A major focus of Meg’s health planning activities was on being responsive to the needs of different communities and groups and working collaboratively with them to achieve their specific priorities. In the area of injury prevention, her work frequently involved advocating for and contributing to new or updated Australian Standards for consumer goods, recall of unsafe products, and improved information for consumers.

Mr Gaby Jaksa – Independent Probity Advisor

Gaby is an experienced commercial lawyer and commercial consultant providing services to government and the private sector. He previously worked for 25 years in the State Public Service in both legal and commercial roles and is a former Deputy Crown Solicitor. 

He has worked on a diverse range of commercial transactions, including the State Bank restructure, the East End redevelopment, various whole-of- government ICT contracts, Olympic Dam Indenture renegotiations with BHP, PPP projects, structuring and negotiating the arrangements between SACA, SANFL and the SMA over the use and management of Adelaide Oval and the Nyrstar guarantee matter.

Gaby is also very experienced in providing probity advice or auditing on various types of major projects. Currently, he is the probity adviser to the Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment’s Human Capital Management System procurement.