Power Outages

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (15:25): I rise today to speak on a topic which has dominated the parliament's time this week and for some months prior to that, and that is electricity. Even though I have spoken on this topic before in this place, I will go right back to the statewide blackout on 29 September and the difficulty that we all experienced during that time. In relation to my electorate, Eyre Peninsula and the West Coast, it was particularly difficult because of the extended period of time that we were out. We also had the three generators which were contracted to supplement the power supply into Port Lincoln fail on that occasion and we still have no reasonable answer as to why that occurred. I do not believe the Treasurer has received an answer to that query either.

Unfortunately, the West Coast has become all too used to power outages. In places like Elliston and Streaky Bay, it had become a regular occurrence even prior to the 29 September statewide blackout. In hindsight, I believe Eyre Peninsula had become the canary in the coalmine for the rest of the state and for the rest of the country. Ironically, on the very day that the smoke stack at the Port Augusta power station was brought down, which was covered widely in the popular press, yet another power outage occurred on the West Coast. I suspect the two were unrelated, but the irony was not lost on the people of Eyre Peninsula.

The story continues, because on 23 December I was in Cowell, in another part of my electorate, for their Christmas parade. I noticed lightning and a clap of thunder to the north-west. My worst fears were confirmed when, once again, Streaky Bay and Ceduna lost power, this time for around 24 hours, in what was the very busiest trading time of the year, midday of the 23^rd to midday of 24 December. You can imagine the irate concerns of people who were preparing for Christmas, not only businesses but also households. Goodness knows how much Christmas preparation was upset and how much food was thrown out. I know hotels lost trade and all the rest of it; we have heard those stories before.

As a result, our leader, Steven Marshall, and I took it upon ourselves to write to the Premier requesting an urgent meeting with nine Eyre Peninsula mayors from nine district council areas. The Premier chose not to meet face to face, but at least had a phone hook-up with those mayors and they were pleased to have that opportunity. The Treasurer took it upon himself to visit Port Lincoln early in January, which gave all the mayors the opportunity to meet with the Treasurer face to face and put to him the situation that Eyre Peninsula found itself in.

There is no doubt that the mayors took the opportunity to bring home the unreliability of the power supply to EP. No doubt the Treasurer was somewhat surprised at that, given the never-ending nature of the blackouts in our part of the world. I suspect that some of the problem is not just generation capacity but also the condition of the poles and wires. The ElectraNet and SA Power Networks transmission lines obviously are not in a condition whereby they can withstand even just a clap of thunder.

I thank and congratulate the work crews who, often in difficult circumstances when the rest of the community are enjoying themselves, are out restoring power. For homes and businesses, it is not just the reliability but also the cost of our power supply which is impacted, so what to do to fix this? We need:

a single national renewable energy target which encourages investment in generation and storage technologies that are reliable, affordable and clean;

a well-functioning National Electricity Market which includes a broad generation mix capable of balancing demand and supply across the market; and

reliable, affordable base load power to supply grid security and price stability, which could include gas and solar thermal generation along with other renewables capable of providing dispatchable electricity.

I know on the West Coast of this state, on Eyre Peninsula, we have one of the finest wind resources in the country if not the world. There needs to be further development and investment in storage and other enabling technologies to improve the quality of renewable generation already in place, and we have to enable customers and consumers to manage their own demand levels through deferential pricing and improved storage and information.