Energy Security

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:56): To the Minister for Energy and—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Chaffey will resume his seat for a moment. Interjections on my left will cease. The member for Chaffey.

Mr WHETSTONE: To the Minister for Energy and Mining: minister, can you update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is delivering energy security here in South Australia?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:57): Thank you to the member for Chaffey. Energy security is extremely important. We on this side of the house are very well aware of it. When we came to government, Labor had ignored report after report, many of which they had commissioned themselves, about power systems security. That is why we have stuck by our guns and achieved, in partnership with industry, the largest investment in the national power grid in the history of the national energy market—the SA-New South Wales interconnector.

It will improve our grid that was left so weak by the former Labor government. It allows us to securely export excess renewable energy and rooftop solar so that we can reach net 100 per cent renewable energy generation by 2030. Unlike Labor, we have not ignored the expert advice. We took the advice of the Australian Energy Market Operator, which deemed it critical and No Regrets. We backed it with over $70 million of early works to keep the building of it on the same appropriate timeline and on track.

Since coming to government, we have made dozens of changes to shore up the grid—new standards, operating protocols and protection schemes—and Labor had the gall to oppose some of those. They have criticised the synchronous condensers, which will deliver minimum inertia to our grid. They opposed energy security standards for solar, which we know are critical to managing low demand conditions—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens will cease interjecting. The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —and they actually thought they would fix the mess that they left by spending $612 million of taxpayers' money on dirty diesel generators. The diesels were more expensive than just the SA side of the interconnector alone that ElectraNet is building at no cost to the South Australian government. The simple truth is that if they were in government we would have more blackouts and higher electricity prices. So what was their view on the project? I will leave it to the words of the opposition leader, and I quote:

I guess the position of Labor in regard to the interconnector is that it will stand or fall on the basis of its own private investment.

Guessing—guessing is what they used to do in government and guessing is what they do in opposition. You can't take guesses when it comes to energy security.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The member for West Torrens on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98: this is entirely debate. Implying Labor's motives on any policy outcome is debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. The question, as I noted it, was asking the Minister for Energy and Mining about how the government is delivering energy security. The minister will direct his answer to the question.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Anyone who is guessing on energy policy is letting down whoever they represent, and that is exactly not what we are doing. You cannot take guesses with energy policy: you either fix the grid or you don't. They ran an election campaign against the interconnector.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir,

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The minister continues to talk about Labor and its claimed policy. It's debate, standing order 98.

The SPEAKER: It's a point of order pursuant to standing order 98. I again uphold the point of order. I will give the minister an opportunity to direct his answer more specifically to the question. The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: It's a statement of fact, but fortunately we have come a long way in South Australia with a change of government in 2018. They still say, though, that it's a terrible idea.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order: standing order 98 again, sir.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Energy and Mining will resume his seat. The member for West Torrens on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The minister is again attempting to purport to say what Labor's policy is and he uses that in his answer. It's debate, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned. I again uphold the point of order. The question, and I remind the minister, was directed to how the government is delivering energy security in this state. I direct the minister to the question. The Minister for Energy and Mining has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: We are delivering energy security to our state with no help from those opposite, but we are determined to get on with the job. Electricity prices are going down, emissions are going down and the number of blackouts are going down as well. You don't guess on energy policy: you follow the expert advice, you get on with the job and you get it done. Our strong energy solution and our strong energy policies are delivering for South Australians.

We have one public exponent who is opposed to the interconnector, we have one public exponent who is not opposed to the interconnector and one public exponent who is guessing on the interconnector—and they all sit right in front of me next to each other.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! Before I call the member for Kaurna, the member for Wright is warned. The member for Giles is called to order.