Power Outages

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (14:35): My question is again to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy. Will the minister now answer the question he was asked on Tuesday and tell the house what contingencies are in place to prevent further major blackouts following the closure of the Hazelwood power station in six weeks?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:35): I'm not so much concerned about the next six weeks as I am about next summer.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: But that was the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Well, that's not what you said. I am concerned. That's why the state government will be making interventions. I do point out that, if we had a national coherent policy of an energy intensity scheme, there would be no concerns because we would have our gas-fired generators incentivised to be on more often and we would more than adequately meet our demands. They would be writing more contracts into the market and of course we would have a much more fluid electricity market.

In the absence of that national leadership, in the absence of a price on carbon and in the absence of an energy intensity scheme, we will have to take matters into our own hands and do something that we think will alleviate that risk. Once that plan is finalised, we will be in the parliament letting members know. Members will debate it, no doubt. They will talk about it. No doubt the Leader of the Opposition has already made up his mind to oppose whatever it is. Whatever we announce, he will oppose. He will ring up the Prime Minister and ask permission to either support or oppose, because the Prime Minister was the one who decided that he would oppose—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order: standing order 98. The Treasurer is straying a long way from providing information.

The SPEAKER: And on what grounds?

Mr GARDNER: On the grounds that whoever on the opposition might be phoning whoever, when he potentially introduces something he hasn't told us about yet is hardly relevant information on behalf of the minister for his responsibilities.

The SPEAKER: I will listen carefully to the minister's remarks to ensure he ties them up with the question.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I'm very keen to meet those contingencies. I think those contingencies will be met with of course a great deal of renewable energy. Renewable energy is a great way of meeting a lot of those demands and I point members to a very interesting article that was in The Advertiser about investment and innovation in renewable energy. It was called 'Board blue-blood to build policy changes', and it was about a young enthusiastic member for Norwood who was going to change the world about innovation.

He talks about all his business experience. He doesn't mention Wokinabox once. It's all about everything else but Wokinabox, but he talks about innovation and he talks about the great shame of the Premier's cut in the innovation package for renewable energy. Renewable energy, he thought, could meet those challenges.

Mr Marshall: In six weeks' time, when it closes, what contingencies has the government put in place?

The SPEAKER: Let me listen to the minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: We believe that renewable energy mixed with gas can meet these demands, and in fact from AEMO's own report, in a day of record demand, we could have met all our own needs. We had sufficient energy in the state to meet those needs, had it not been for the market failing and not turning on that second unit at Pelican Point. What I expect the market to do under normal circumstances is, when ENGIE close their position in Victoria, they will have to somehow enter the market with their two units here to protect their positions and of course offer contracts because it makes sense the way they are structured to be out there offering retail markets.

Of course, we found that the market failed for us on Wednesday, and it failed because the national bodies that run our electricity market proved that they were unable to predict demand and they didn't act early enough. Why wait till 3 o'clock? What were they doing at 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock? What were they doing the day before? It's not as if we didn't know it was going to be hot. It's not as if we didn't know it was going to be tight. It's not as if we didn't know that there was a heatwave across the country.

Mr Knoll: What they didn't know was how much wind was going to be blowing. That's what they didn't know.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Well, again, it's the ideological attacks rather than this technology-neutral attitude that the Prime Minister has called on. We need to have a technology-neutral response to this, taking into account emissions. That's how you get the market to reform. Members opposite are ideologues; they just want coal. The private sector can't run the coal industry. The private sector can't run a coal-fired power station; they failed. They want to socialise it. They want the government to run it.

The SPEAKER: The minister has escaped any relevance. He is now debating the matter. The member for Stuart.