Power Infrastructure

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:29): The minister has outlined to the house that the government has received information from AEMO, but my question is: has the government indeed sought or received any additional advice on this issue? Who sought that advice? Who commissioned that advice and when was it received?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:29): We regularly—

Mr Marshall: No. No, just give us the answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I said one word.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned for the second and the final time. If he makes another utterance outside standing orders, I will have to remove him from the chamber.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I am happy to give the Leader of the Opposition a full list of the advice we have received. Obviously, some of that advice is from generators and that might be held in commercial-in-confidence, but what we have is an energy markets division within our agency. We are the lead legislator for the National Electricity Market. We have a lot of in-depth, in-situ advice given to us constantly by world experts based here in South Australia—people whose lives have been dedicated to the management of the National Electricity Market and its establishment.

Mr Whetstone: Why is it so dear?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We have designed it, we have built it—

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —and it's worked and served us well. As inconvenient as it was yesterday, the system worked as it was designed to—it protected itself. I have to say that some of the comments I have seen from industry experts about the way the system reacted yesterday, I think—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Chaffey for the second and the very last time.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I think it's important to note that there have been some leading experts in the electricity market who aren't necessarily converts to a renewable future, but the event yesterday, and the repowering of our grid yesterday, wasn't related to renewable energy. There is an important person here who is Roger Dargaville, the deputy director of the Energy Research Institute, and also Mr Dylan McConnell, an energy market expert. They are quoted today in an online daily called InDaily, and I quote:

He said to re-start almost the entire state's electricity supply 'from black' within hours was unprecedented in the national electricity market.

'The proof [is in the pudding]…this is quite a success story, to be honest'…

No-one wants to celebrate the power going out, but what we have to acknowledge is the way that the system reacted. If we didn't have the safeguards in place to separate the generators, the interconnector and the transmission lines from each other, we would still be black now. We have a world-class system in place to protect it—the same system that is in place in Victoria, the same system that is in place in New South Wales and Queensland. The same protocols are in place across the country developed by technical experts, not politicians.

I think it's important to note that these technical experts have done a remarkable feat of returning the grid to functioning. I've got to say that we had 80,000 lightning strikes yesterday. A lot of those lightning strikes hit directly on our generators. Torrens Island had direct strikes on its TIPS generators. Mintaro had direct strikes.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We have had advice from AEMO. I have to say, AEMO yesterday said to me, in the middle of the night, there was an unprecedented level of electricity strikes on generators, the likes of which they have never seen. Tony Marxsen, the chair of the Australian Energy Market Operator, said to me last night that they had cyclones go through Queensland without doing as much damage to infrastructure as occurred here—23 towers. The backbone and spine of our electricity transmission line was cut in half.

Mr Marshall: The Premier said they were ripped out of the ground.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Exactly. These are dramatic events made by a dramatic weather event—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —and there is no level of redundancy that any system in any First World country in the world can put in place to deal with that type of weather event.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: If the deputy leader makes another utterance outside standing orders, I will have no choice but to remove her from the chamber, and the member for Davenport is warned for the second and final time. Leader.