Hydrogen Power Plant

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): My question again is to the Premier: will the hydrogen plant be delivered on budget?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:21): The government is in the procurement process, and what members opposite want me to do is to signal to the companies—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: What they want us to do is signal to the people we are negotiating with on price either an increase or decrease and set a price. We won't do that. We are in a procurement. We will be protecting the state's interests and making sure that we get the best possible price we can, because we believe that the state owning generation is fundamentally important. We believe that the state should have a strategic reserve. We believe that we should own a generator. We believe that we should be able to provide South Australians with that security.

Just last year, members opposite voted for a piece of legislation to allow the state to require generators that were exiting the market to stay in the market, and after they had voted for it they went out and complained about it. They voted for it and then complained about it.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The interview begins.

Mr TEAGUE: Point of order. The minister is nearly two minutes in. It is 98(a): he is debating in almost the most generational terms. The simple question was: will the hydrogen plant be delivered on budget? He needs to answer the question.

The SPEAKER: Minister for Energy.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: As we have said previously from the day we came into office, we are in a procurement process. We won't be making comments outside that procurement process. Our focus is on the Upper Spencer Gulf, is on the people of Whyalla. We want the very best outcomes for them. We want to protect the jobs we've got in place now. They are our first priority, making sure we can look after the people of Whyalla. We will be doing everything we can to make sure we can give all the tools and equipment to that community to make sure that we can continue to prosper steelmaking and mining and ultimately decarbonise that process.