Energy Policy

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (14:40): Supplementary: why was it then reported regarding AEMO forecasts on Tuesday that, 'But while the State Government claimed that the diesel generators would provide SA with an additional 276MW of electricity generation, AEMO was only banking on 170MW'?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:40): Again, completely unrelated. Of course, this is exactly what the opposition do; they misrepresent what people say. For example, I will get to the first part of the question, which was, 'Why did AEMO say that?' AEMO were only factoring in a very small part of that generation in the work process.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, in fact I had a conversation today with the head of AEMO who said to me in a telephone hook-up exactly how happy she was that we had made these investments.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: That is why I said 'she'. They can't even get that right! This is really ridiculous. First, it's $300 worth of savings, then they say only $60 or $70 in five or six years. After having that conversation with the head of AEMO, AEMO are very pleased that we have made these investments. Importantly, the Liberal Party put out a press release claiming that I said, and I quote, 'The best forecast we have, of course, is from the ASX forward prices,' dot, dot, dot. What was after dot, dot, dot? Why didn't they include the entire quote? It makes you wonder why would they not include the entire quote in their press release? Could the shadow minister be wanting to deliberately leave out something else that I had said? Well, let's read out the entire quote.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: I've got it right here.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Do you? Then why didn't you use it? This is what I actually said:

The best forecast we have, of course, is from the ASX forward prices and the OTC prices. The over-the-counter market, which is a majority of the contracts written in the market…

He left that out. Why did he leave that out? Because hardly anyone trades the ASX listed prices. He didn't want to use that. It is unbelievable that he would leave that out. There are two reasons why he would leave that out: (1) he doesn't understand what it means, or (2) he is deliberately being dishonest.