Beattie and Bligh put revised number on table ...

Remember the State government's split personality approach to water price hikes - this Labor government official says 'they'll be this high' and the next Labor government official says 'no, that's too high, we'll get another Labor government official to review them'.

In State parliament today, Beattie and Bligh revised their figures downwards to make it seem as though they were inflicting less pain on voters.

Excerpt from Courier Mail (annotated):

Deputy Premier and Treasurer Anna Bligh told State Parliament today she had received preliminary advice that the Queensland Water Commission's [read - State Labor government's] proposed 150 per cent increase in water prices could be eased.

[It took just 3 days to backflip on the numbers.]

Ms Bligh said this would involve a series of measures including the Government accepting only a break-even return of four per cent on its $8 billion statewide water grid project over the next 10 years.

She said if the measures were taken, the Government could halve the commission's [read - State Labor Government's] proposed price rise.

"Reducing the commercial returns on these investments over the next decade will go a long way to help cushion the impact on consumers,'' Ms Bligh said. She said the average bill would then increase from $350 to $525 over five years, rather than to $733 under the commission's [read - State Labor government's] estimates.

See - Courier Mail - Beattie's real number revealed.

This was probably their number all along - 'just get the QWC to dribble out the higher number to shock voters and then we'll let them know the real one' ...