National Electricity Market

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (15:00): Supplementary: given that the Premier has just informed the house that he is dealing with facts in relation to this electricity crisis, can he in fact confirm that the Treasurer was indeed wrong when he claimed yesterday that Pelican Point was generating, when it clearly wasn't?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is called to order. The member for Florey is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (15:01): I don't understand why, at this most serious moment, we are getting debating points from the Leader of the Opposition. The substance of what the Treasurer was advancing publicly—

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The substance of what the minister was advancing was essentially that Pelican Point was available to assist in the restoration of the network. That is the proposition.

Ms Digance interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Elder is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Pelican Point was ready, willing and able to serve in the National Electricity Market. The National—

The Hon. J.R. Rau interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right. The National Electricity Market operates in a way which allocates power to those people who bid into the system. It has stood ready to participate in the system. It was part and parcel of the energy network. It was part of the national energy market because it could bid in, as appropriate, having regard to the market circumstances that pertained. It was available—this is the gravamen of the matter—to restore the network, which was the proposition.

It was available to generate at the request of the Australian Energy Market Operator. It was ready, willing and able to generate to assist in the building back up of the system. That decision was taken in an orderly way, having regard to balancing demand and supply, so as to not destabilise the system. The substance of what the minister was talking about is understood by all those, unless you simply want to play games with words.