Generators

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (14:58): My question is for the Minister for Energy. Why did the minister tell the house it was necessary to exercise the purchase option of the temporary diesel generators so that the government could start its planning process for a third permanent location when the government actually started and has spent taxpayers' money on developing that third permanent location well over six months ago?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:58): It's all part of our plan. We said initially—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Fake laughter won't change any of it. What we did was we said we were going to purchase a brand-new state-owned generator. The reason we want a brand-new state-owned generator is because the privatisation of ETSA has been a failure—a miserable failure—and members opposite are guilty as charged for doing that to the people of South Australia. Our bills have not gone down since the privatisation of ETSA. We haven't seen increased competition in the market. We haven't had any of the benefits that privatisation promised—not one.

That is why I am proud to say that I was here in parliament when that bill was debated and I voted against it, even though the Leader of the Opposition said he was still in school when it happened but he is older than me.

Mr Marshall: You look a lot older.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That is true because I work harder.

The SPEAKER: Didn't we preselect you when you were still at Adelaide High School?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The reason we want to have a state-owned generator to call on ourselves is because the private sector has let down this state terribly. The privatisation has been such an appalling disaster for the people of South Australia that we need to have our own generation we can call on, otherwise we are completely reliant on the private operators and an interconnector. That is all we have: profiteers and a thin long cable. That is what they want us to rely on.

We want more generation here in South Australia. We want to be self-sufficient. We want more gas, more gas exploration, more gas-fired generators, more wind turbines, more solar thermal power plants, more batteries, more wind farms. We don't want more reliance on the east coast. We want less reliance and more self-sufficiency. That's why we are buying our own state-owned generator, and I do not understand why members opposite want to sell it already.