Australian Energy Market Operator

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:26): Well, we don't know the answer to that one. My question is to the Minister for Mineral Recourses and Energy. At what time did the minister contact AEMO to request ENGIE to bring its second generator online?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:26): I'll go back and check, but I understand my first conversations with ENGIE were in the afternoon, well before the load shedding, given that we were thinking that demand was going to be very tight. My agency was in contact with AEMO, but I will get a detailed report for the house so that members can see exactly what we did.

I would also add that my conversations with the chairman, Mr Markson, about the load shedding, when I was informed officially by AEMO that it was load shedding, were after they had begun. Now, I have to say that, if that were to occur in the North Shore of Sydney, there would be outrage. I think that the market operator has treated us very badly, and I think that they have let South Australians down.

Now, I know a lot of the people who are involved in the AEMO organisation, and I had a great deal of time for Mr Matt Zema who passed away last year. We were in constant contact about the management of AEMO. I am concerned about—with respect to the intervening period between Mr Zema's untimely death and the appointment of a new chief executive—the operations of AEMO, as I think a lot of people are, especially given what occurred in New South Wales.

Now, I think that when you contrast the two methods of operation—New South Wales and South Australia—and the amount of time and effort that went into making sure that residents weren't load shedded in New South Wales, you had the ACT minister and the New South Wales minister out giving plenty of advanced warning, asking the people of New South Wales and the ACT not to turn on certain types of power in their home if they didn't need to and trying to rush around to meet with industry that could voluntarily come off supply. They had time to try to manage the loads.

We were given none of that warning, yet we see from the reports that the relationship between AEMO and the Bureau of Meteorology needs to be improved, I would have thought, since the September blackout. There would have been a lot more of that. And I have to say the idea that we were given almost no notice of load shedding and the first contact I had with the chairman, I have to say is unacceptable. If the opposition wants us to run our electricity system why did they sell it?

The SPEAKER: Before the leader asks his next question, I call to order the members for Stuart and Hartley. I warn for the first time the members for Chaffey and Finniss, and I warn for the second and final time the member for Chaffey.