Question Time

Power Outages

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house on whose advice he relied when he told the people of South Australia that the statewide blackout was unequivocally caused by the collapse of the high-voltage transmission lines in the state's north?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:15): I thank the honourable member for his question, and it's good to be back in South Australia. One thing that a bit of distance from South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: A little distance from South Australia allows you to reflect a little. I actually did get an opportunity to read the Hansard, and even though it was in print I could see the discomfort of those opposite. It fairly sort of came off the pages. It's the policy of this government to support 50 per cent renewable energy for South Australia, and we on this side of the house stand ready to support that policy. One of the things—

Mr Marshall: What about answering the question: whose advice did you rely upon?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We on this side of the house are going to continue to pursue that policy because it not only is in South Australia's interests, in terms of jobs and prosperity, it is in the national interest, and it also is about making a contribution to the international effort in relation to tackling climate change.

A few things have become clear as a result of the publication of the report that was put out today, and I must say the first thing I did expect from the Leader of the Opposition was that he would be standing up in this house and apologising to the people of South Australia for misleading them and making false remarks denigrating our renewable energy industry.

Members interjecting:

Mr PISONI: Point of order, sir: the Premier is entering into debate.

The SPEAKER: I take the view that people making points of order about debating in question time ought to come to the point of order with clean hands, and the member for Unley does not, and I will be reading out the warnings in due course. Member for Heysen.

Ms REDMOND: On a further point of order, sir, the Premier accused the Leader of the Opposition of misleading the house.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I accused him of misleading the community.

The SPEAKER: Misleading—I'm sorry, Premier, I didn't catch it?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The community, not the house.

The SPEAKER: Yes, apparently misleading the community is fine.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yes, that's right, and he did it with impunity.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Yes, by 'fine' I meant uttering the words 'misleading the community' does not breach standing orders.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Mr Speaker, you can generally determine the level of discomfort from those opposite by the rising inflection of the Leader of the Opposition: the more trouble he's in, the louder he gets. I'm not going to compete with him in the shouting stakes, suffice to say this: there were four important observations that were made in and around the time of the power blackout. One of them was made by Senator Xenophon and was backed up by Senator Barnaby Joyce, that when the wind blows really strongly windfarms don't work. False. False—completely debunked by the report.

The second proposition which has been spread by some media commentators and which has been also advanced by the Prime Minister of this country and numerous others, including those opposite, is that the intermittent nature of renewable energy has destabilised the system such that it caused blackouts. Debunked, completely wrong, completely debunked by the report.

The third proposition—and this is a special one, because this one was dreamt up by the Leader of the Opposition; nobody else decided to be on his side with this one—is that the start-up of the system after a system black was somehow delayed because of the amount of renewable energy in the system. Now, nobody else advanced that proposition, only the Leader of the Opposition—completely debunked. The central proposition is this: renewable energy is good for our state, it is good for our nation, it is good for our planet. We are going to pursue it and we are not going to be dictated to by the climate sceptics opposite.

Ms Chapman: Come on, Patrick, come back. They need your help!

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will be seated. The deputy leader is warned for referring to the gallery. I have a good mind to clear that voluble Fenian out of the gallery since he responded. I call to order the members for Hartley, Mount Gambier, Finniss, Chaffey, Goyder, Schubert, Kavel, Mitchell, the Treasurer and the leader. I warn the members for Morialta, Hartley, Mount Gambier, Unley, Chaffey, Schubert and the leader, and I warn for the second and final time the leader and the members for Chaffey, Hartley and Morialta.

Mr MARSHALL: Supplementary, sir.

The SPEAKER: The member for Wright.