Electricity Generation

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): Supplementary to the Premier: can he explain whether there will be load shedding after he has implemented his strategy?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:12): What we will be doing in South Australia is taking back control of our energy system. What will happen when we implement our policies is that South Australia will have control of its own destiny. What won't be happening, if we get our way, is that a national energy operator will be running a local energy system in South Australia that leaves a power station at Pelican Point, one of the most efficient gas-fired generators in the nation, idle causing a blackout in South Australia.

Our policy objective will be to ensure that that absurd state of affairs does not continue. How can one seriously suggest that a system that permits those things to happen lawfully is anything other than a broken national electricity market? That is what we will be advocating for. Our changes will be directed at that matter. Of course, it would be desirable if we could have an outbreak of common sense at a national level and that there was national policymaking to assist us in that regard. If those opposite, instead of abdicating their responsibilities to Canberra, stood with us and stood for South Australia for once, we may be able to achieve something.