Electricity Prices

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:42): My question is to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy. Was the state government advised that the closure of the Port Augusta power stations would drive up the cost of electricity across South Australia and, if so, what was the government's response?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (15:42): That question presupposes: if the advice was yes, would we invest in our brown coal-fired power station that we had privatised previously, and the answer is, no, Mr Speaker, we would not be trying to bail out a coal-fired generator. We're not going to, and the reason we won't is that's old technology. And the reason that the coal-fired generator is not working is because, quite frankly, it wasn't being run as efficiently as generators in Victoria. Why? There's no carbon price any more, which members opposite supported, so that's pricing gas out of the market.

Mr Speaker, what that means is that all of a sudden coal generators in Victoria with coal mines right next to them with very low transport costs, as opposed to Leigh Creek, which had very high transport costs, became inefficient. So, the reason that Leigh Creek is closing is because the government didn't own the asset. So, the question, Mr Speaker, is washed in politics—washed in politics. They are trying to set traps, trying to avoid blame, but there is only one guilty party here, and that's members opposite.