Question Time

Electricity Generation

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier outline to the house what his government is doing to ensure affordable and reliable power for South Australian households and South Australian businesses once the Hazelwood plant closes at the end of this month?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:05): Mr Speaker—

Mr Knoll: Everybody should BYO a generator.

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

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —the National Electricity Market is run by the Australian Energy Market Operator. They have a responsibility to the Australian states to make sure that available generation is there to service the economy which it serves. They set prices in the market to try to build, of course, a demand within that market. The disorderly exit of the Hazelwood coal-fired generator—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is a disorderly exit.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The coal apologists. You have these disorderly exits of coal-fired generation from Port Augusta's closure of their power station, and of course Hazelwood, and the reason they exit the market is that these generators are not profitable. The reason they are not making money is that, ultimately, the national market is not giving the private sector, which owns almost all the generation in this country, the price signals that they need to reinvest.

What would happen in a mature market where there was clear national policy in place is you would have an orderly investment replacing generation hours and exits. What happens is, as this generation exits, it sends price signals into the market. Those price signals have failed South Australia and they are failing the NEM. They are failing the National Electricity Market in a number of ways, and I will detail exactly how they have failed the market to get that response. The market responses are, as this generation leaves without a national policy framework to incentivise its replacement with gas, for example, which is what we on this side want—we want to replace Victorian coal with South Australian gas—

The SPEAKER: Point of order.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: The question was specifically about the government's response, and the minister has talked about everybody else except the government.

The SPEAKER: Yes, that is a bogus point of order, and the member for Stuart, who I was about to call to order, is now warned. Minister.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: As Hazelwood exits the national market in an unplanned way, because of the failure of the NEM, what you are seeing is a series of events that is leading to, I think, the National Electricity Market showing that it's failed, and that's why we need to intervene into that market. Our intervention needs to look at how we can make sure that our generation, of which there is an oversupply in South Australia, comes on to meet our needs and our services.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The fundamental failure of the NEM, over the interjections of members opposite who have yet to release an energy policy, is that we believe the NEM has failed in the way it dispatches electricity. It does not dispatch electricity in a way that ensures the continuation of supply because of the ownership structure.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yelling at me won't change the fact that the NEM is broken, and our policy initiatives will be put in place to make sure that the NEM serves us—not the other way around. It's exactly the reason—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is exactly the reason that Thomas Playford decided that he would nationalise the electricity operations in this state to make it serve South Australians. Our intervention will return the sovereignty back to the people of this state and we will control our future when it comes to generation. We won't outsource it to the private sector, like members opposite did.

The SPEAKER: The opposition may not have liked the answer, but it was relevant to the question.

Mr Marshall: It really wasn't. It really, really wasn't, I'm sorry.

The SPEAKER: No, the question was framed with the usual schlamperei, and you got the answer that you would expect. I call to order the members for Stuart, Hammond, Morialta, Goyder, Mount Gambier, Davenport, Adelaide, Finniss, and the leader and deputy leader. I warn the members for Hammond, Goyder, Mount Gambier, Finniss, Schubert, Adelaide, Morialta and the deputy leader, and I warn for the second and final time the deputy leader and the members for Stuart, Adelaide, Morialta, Hammond and Finniss.