Electricity Generation

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:40): My question is to the Premier. Did Alinta's offer to the government, to keep the Northern power station open in 2015, provide sufficient synchronous generation capacity to maintain grid stability in the event of the Heywood interconnector becoming disconnected?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:40): I thank the honourable member for his question. Of course, the Northern power station is in private hands. It would still be in public hands if it had not been sold under the privatisation in 2000 under the Electricity Corporations (Restructuring and Disposal Act) 1999. This particular asset is being spoken about by those opposite, and I think those opposite were citing with approval some proposal that was floating around that we pick it up for a dollar.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order: the question was in respect of the events of an offer in 2015, not 1991.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: So, we wouldn't be having this discussion but for that, but we are, sadly. The reality is that Alinta was never making an offer that would meet either our long-term needs or our short-term needs. We had specific requirements about South Australia's energy future and Alinta was unable to meet them and so there was never any offer that met South Australia's needs.

The SPEAKER: I warn the member for Mitchell for an earlier interjection.