Australian Energy Market Operator

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:14): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: The next Attorney!

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

Mr TEAGUE: Can the minister please update the house on the Australian Energy Market Operator's 2018 SA Electricity Report?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:14): Thank you to the member for Heysen for this important question. There was bad news and there was good news in that report. The bad news for the people of South Australia—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Let's hope the Eastern States don't cross the floor.

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —is that AEMO confirmed what we already knew, and that was that the previous government left this state in a mess with regard to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —electricity— and they think it's funny.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: They think it's funny. They were asleep at the wheel and the best they can try to do now is pretend it was a booby trap or something. They're just trying to pretend that they left us with a problem. But there was good news in the report, too. The report actually explicitly praised the Marshall Liberal government's energy policies.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: What energy policy?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Absolutely outstanding. Anybody who's been paying attention knows that on 10 October last year—so over a year ago—we announced our energy policy—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: No mining policy, no energy policy.

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —which has several planks, which are all at work. The AEMO decided to particularly single out our Home Battery Scheme as something that needs to be done and that other states should follow, and that, interestingly, other states are following. While the opposition, when in government and now in opposition, say that the Home Battery Scheme is no good, it is very interesting to note that their federal Labor colleagues are copying our program. They're offering something very, very similar.

AEMO specifically said also that our plan for interconnection is a very positive one for South Australia and for the rest of the NEM. Interestingly, we announced this policy, as I said, over a year ago. The government of the day believed in interconnection with New South Wales right up until the time when we announced that we would do that if elected. Then, all of a sudden, they decided that they didn't like it. It's a shame for them that AEMO has highlighted that they are alone on that issue.

AEMO's own ISP (Integrated System Plan) certainly says that interconnection between South Australia and New South Wales is a very positive thing. ElectraNet's draft RIT-T report says exactly the same. Our ACIL Allen independent modelling shows the same. Independent modelling, which we commissioned very recently from PwC and Jacobs, shows exactly the same thing. In fact, the New South Wales government's own work shows exactly the same thing.

This AEMO report, while being bad news because it confirms the mess we were left and the failure of the previous government's energy policies, is very good news and it is very welcome news. It makes it very clear that the Marshall Liberal government's energy policies are the right ones. It has highlighted two of our key planks, and of course other planks to do with grid-scale storage—very, very important—will support South Australia as well and also with regard to voluntary demand management options, which will reward customers and the industry.

We are determined—absolutely determined—to make electricity in South Australia more affordable, more reliable and cleaner. We will work with the regulating authorities. We will work with industry. We've already seen three retailers with whom we've been in close contact announce discounts on their standing offers, which we welcomed. Things are going well. There's a long way to go still and there's a lot of work to do to clean up the mess, but we are determined to do it.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Leader of the Opposition, I call the following members to order: the member for Wright, the member for Giles and the member for Hammond. The member for Playford is warned. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.