House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time River Murray Flood River Murray Flood Mr WHETSTONE House of Assembly Chaffey River Murray Flood Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:51): Supplementary to the Minister for Energy and Mining: minister, what power provisions for households will be enacted for my constituency living on life support systems who fear that their lives will be cut short should they lose power? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey, that is not a supplementary question. It introduces new subject matter; however, the minister may choose to take it as a new question. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:51): I think it's a legitimate question and the member is right to raise it because there are people who live across South Australia who are on life support systems, and they rely on the regular supply of power in their homes. It's an appropriate question for him to ask and I'm glad he has asked it. There are provisions currently in place and SA Power Networks have provisions where they can continue to provide power, if necessary, even by portable generation on properties where people have life support systems in place. I understand that SA Power Networks and the Department for Health are working to coordinate to try to move people. Where that might become impractical and unsafe is where generators can get inundated and it's not appropriate or where some homes are not geared up to have that type of generation, but for most people who have registered that they have important life support equipment in their homes that cannot tolerate blackout there are provisions in those homes. I ask the member that, if he knows of people in his electorate who have life-threatening situations where they require power to maintain hydration or levels of oxygen in their blood, he should contact me or SA Power Networks and we will move heaven and earth to make sure that those people are accommodated. We don't want anyone—anyone—to die as a result of this natural disaster. This is a slow-moving freight train heading towards us. We know that there are substations that would have been inundated had it not been for bunds being built. We know that there is going to be power infrastructure that is going to be inundated. It is built to a standard. It should work, but things will go wrong. In natural disasters, things go wrong. We will do everything we possibly can that is within our power to make sure we can do everything we can. The important thing is that we keep the lines of communication open. The member for Chaffey is in a unique position in this house: he knows his neighbours. He knows his constituents. He knows who they are. They know him. They have his number. He has our numbers. He has the Premier's number. He has my number. I assume he has the Minister for Emergency Services' number and the Deputy Premier's number. Call anytime night or day. We are ready to take those calls and we are ready to act. This is a time when there is no Labor Party and no Liberal Party, there are just South Australians. We are here to make sure that every South Australian, no matter where they live or what constituency they are in, knows that the South Australian government is here for them. We will do everything we can, and the tip of the spear of that is the member for Chaffey. If he has people who come to him, come to us and we will act on your behalf because we want you to succeed here. We want the member for Chaffey to do as much as he possibly can to help his constituency. He is now their point of call, so reach out to us, as is the member alongside him. Reach out. This is not a time for politics, and they know that. We are not saying that they are trying that. What we are saying— Mr Pederick House of Assembly Hammond Mr Pederick: I have reached out, as you know. The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I know. The member for Hammond says he reached out. He did. He reached out about borrow pits to get clay for levees, and within 24 hours that situation was sorted, and I thanked him for raising it with me. The moment he raised it with me we fixed it, and that is how this parliament is designed to work. Yes, it's adversarial. Yes, the opposition is designed to keep the government accountable and the government is designed to be accountable to the parliament, but at times like this in natural disasters it's every shoulder to the wheel—everyone. I thank the member for reaching out—and we fixed it. There will be others, and there will be some phone calls that you make to us where we can't fix it. That is just the nature of a natural disaster, but I give you my undertaking that we are all doing everything we can to make you succeed.