House of Assembly: Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Contents

SOLAR ENERGY

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:48): Madam I have a supplementary question. In light of the Premier's answer to my last question, can he tell the house how many millions of tonnes of carbon per annum will now be added to South Australian skies as a result of Labor's decision to means test the solar panel rebate, and will those millions of tonnes be offset by his announcement today of solar panels on the top of a building in Wayville?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:49): Can I say this. If you have 8 per cent—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: You talk about substance: that is something you are not used to. We have Australia's first feed-in laws coming in on 1 July (and we remember the attitude of the opposition towards that), which will pay people double the price for the solar power they produce.

I will make this confident prediction; that we will continue to lead Australia in geothermal, solar and wind power because, unlike your government where there was not one single wind turbine, by next year we will have 20 per cent of our power coming from sustainable energy—20 per cent—world leaders. Under your government just six years ago, not one single wind turbine was in operation.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: There was one at Broken Hill that didn't work and one in Coober Pedy that didn't work.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Yes, there was one in Coober Pedy that did not work. The Liberal Party on sustainable energy can only be regarded as the greatest bunch of phoneys, because one day you supported our legislation—sorry, I do not want to mislead the house. We remember the day when the Liberals would not support our legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because they said it was not strong enough. Then the next day when the business community and people from the federal Liberal Party rang up, they came in and said it would destroy the economy. They are rolled gold phoneys on sustainable energy, and everyone knows it.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: If opposition members on my left want to waste question time they can, but I will call somebody only when there is silence in the chamber. The member for West Torrens.