Grievance Debate

Energy Prices

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (15:03): Today, I rise to talk a little bit about power prices and, of course, the rising cost of living under this Labor government. We know that more cost-of-living pain is on the way, unfortunately, for South Australian families and South Australian businesses as well, with the Australian Energy Regulator revealing that South Australia's wholesale power prices are again, unfortunately, the highest in the nation by some 40 per cent in some cases. The average price of electricity in South Australia is up 76 per cent from the same time last year when—wait, you guessed it—we were also the highest in the nation. The average household retail bill is $2,621 per year. Between July and September this year, we saw a 35 per cent increase in wholesale power prices.

How are small businesses supposed to absorb these skyrocketing costs? It is beyond me. We know that South Australian families and South Australian businesses are going backwards under Labor. We have seen that stamp duty is up by $8,250, water bills are going up by $90 per year, yet revenue from state government fees and charges is up some 30 per cent. This government has wasted over $100 million on taxpayer-funded advertising.

The Malinauskas Labor government has no plan to ease cost-of-living pressures on South Australians. We know that this Premier and his government are receiving record revenue from the pockets of South Australians, but when we asked him to put a freeze on fees, he left us out in the cold, and he left South Australians out in the cold as well. When we asked the Premier and his government to reinstate the Home Battery Scheme, what happened? They snubbed the people of Black, who day after day are telling us about how the skyrocketing cost of power, the skyrocketing cost of doing business, is crippling them.

Let me ask: what is this government doing with its record revenues that it is taking from hardworking South Australians and hardworking South Australian businesses? We know one thing they are doing is they are spending. Who knows; is it going to be $600 million, $700 million, is it going to be $1 billion? Time will tell. They will spend millions and millions of dollars, possibly over a billion dollars, on an experimental hydrogen plant—an experimental hydrogen plant experiment. As we know, this government has no modelling—can you believe it—to suggest that it will bring down power prices for struggling small businesses and struggling families as well.

Only last week, we learnt that the Premier's signature hydrogen experiment is in disarray. It is in complete disarray after it was revealed again by the opposition—myself and also the very hardworking member for Morphett—that the government has put out a tender to truck in significant amounts of gas for up to two years. That doesn't sound very green to me. Diesel-powered B-doubles—dirty diesel—will be taking this gas up and down. It is like the generators all over again. This is the best case of greenwashing I have ever seen.

We know that this is a debacle. I will tell you why it is a debacle: when I was supposed to debate the Premier on this, he went running, and he sent his mate, the member for West Torrens. There you go. What more do you have to know? It is great for the Premier to look at positive media examples when it is good news, but as soon as it is bad news, he sends out the bad guy to do the dirty work. Does the Premier know something that maybe Twiggy Forrest does not know? Does the Premier know something that maybe Origin Energy does not know? Maybe he does, because, do not forget, he is that smart that he could have been a banker. Do not forget that. Remember he loves telling us that.

Is the Premier's vision of green energy using diesel-powered B-double trucks to bring gas in? He told us the turbines would run on 100 per cent hydrogen. Then he said, 'We only need gas to start it.' Now we find that they need gas four hours a day—four hours of gas a day, minimum—for two years: the great hydrogen hoax. It is no wonder we pay the highest power bills in the nation. It is time for Labor to get its head out of its hydrogen cloud and focus on bringing down power prices for South Australians.