Electricity Interconnector

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:17): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on the progress of the interconnector?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:17): Thank you very much—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens is warned.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and thank you to the member for King, who, like all MPs on this side of the chamber, is working very hard every day to deliver a lower cost lifestyle for people in South Australia: lower stamp duty, lower ESL bills, lower NRM bills, lower land tax and lower electricity costs as well.

Today is actually a fantastic day in regard to the delivery of the interconnector for South Australia and New South Wales. In fact, I was this morning with the Premier at the announcement at the office of—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —ElectraNet.

Ms Hildyard: Not standing up for Service SA centres, not standing up for women.

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is warned for a second and final time.

Ms Hildyard: I haven't been warned a first time.

The SPEAKER: Now you are.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: It was a pleasure to be with the Premier at ElectraNet's office with their CEO, Steve Masters, and TransGrid's CEO, Paul Italiano, for ElectraNet to announce their final RIT-T report into this project. This was fantastic because it's such a strong and positive report into this proposal, this proposal that the Premier's team before the election announced as one of our key platforms of our energy policy to drive down electricity prices and improve reliability for all South Australians.

It is also consistent with other reports that have come on exactly this same project over the last 12 months or so. They are all very supportive. It is interesting to note that the only people—and they are not a credible voice—opposing this report are actually the Labor state opposition. It's a terrific day to have another round, ringing endorsement of this program that makes it very clear that if approved—

The Hon. S.K. Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Transport is called to order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —by the Australian Energy Regulator, as we are very optimistic it will be, as a regulated asset, which means that ElectraNet and TransGrid and their financiers will be the ones who put the money up to build this project, it will actually deliver a net benefit in reduction of electricity prices to the average South Australian household of $66 per year—an outstanding achievement.

We got something wrong in our initial policy costings. We were very conservative and we actually said that it would be a $30 per year saving. We were cautious, we were careful, we wanted to do the right thing in our announcements.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: The most recent report was described today by the CEO of TransGrid, about the work of ElectraNet, as the most fulsome, detailed, comprehensive and best RIT-T report ever undertaken in this nation. It's actually going to deliver more than twice the benefit to South Australian taxpayers. Let me just tell you, if a person or a team doesn't support the interconnector, they don't want South Australians to have cheaper electricity. If a person or a team doesn't support the interconnector, they don't want South Australians to have more reliable electricity. If a person—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: this is debate. This is obviously debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: The point of order is for debate. The question was about progress on the interconnector. I believe the minister is going to come back to that very quickly.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Yes, sir, absolutely.

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: And progress and the various public comments that have been made about it.

The SPEAKER: Let's wrap it up, thank you.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: If a person or a team is not supporting the interconnector, they don't—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —support renewable energy. Very clearly—read the report. Very clearly, this is good for South Australia.

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Waite is warned.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: It's good for security of electricity supply, it will reduce the cost of electricity for South Australians and it will allow the ongoing growth of renewable energy generation in South Australia.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier is warned.