Hydrogen Industry

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): My question is to the Premier. How many new jobs in the hydrogen industry have been created at Whyalla since the election of the Malinauskas Labor government?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:27): The Leader of the Opposition is attempting to phrase a question in order to try to demonise—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, he's not trying to get an answer. What he is trying to do is attack an industry that he used to support when they were in office. What he is attempting to do, without having the intellectual honesty to actually say that he is opposed to hydrogen—because he can't say that, because when he was in government, they were supportive of it. This is the difference between being in government and being in opposition. Being in government means that you have to lead. Opposing is easy.

Mr BATTY: Point of order, 98: this is debate. It was a very simple question. The minister should answer.

The SPEAKER: I'm actually having a real problem hearing the answer because of your leader constantly yelling out, so if everyone can be quiet and we can actually listen to the answer, that would be handy.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Hydrogen is a new industry. These were the types of questions we were getting when we were building the big battery at Hornsdale. It's exactly the same. We were getting questions like: how long will it last? How many jobs has it created?

Mrs Hurn: How dare we ask questions.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You weren't asking questions to find information. You were asking questions at the time and denigrating the project because you are not being honest about what your intentions are.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yelling out abuse across the chamber won't change a thing. A very important thing to notice about members opposite is they say that they are in favour of renewables, so don't look at what they say, look at what they do. When they were in office, they did everything they could to stop renewables being built.

Mr TEAGUE: Point of order. It's 98(a): the minister is talking about members opposite. It is a very straightforward question. How many hydrogen jobs have been created at Whyalla since the election? Let's have the answer.

The SPEAKER: Well, like all ministers, there are four minutes in which to give the answer, and I have to say it is actually hard to hear the minister with all the yelling out that's going on. The member for Florey on my right, you may be leading some of that noise, so just a warning to you as well. Can we just have some quiet, thank you.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Every time there is an emerging industry in the green space, it has its critics, and the reason it has its critics is there is a cohort of people in this country who want to cling on to fossil fuels for dear life, and whenever we attempt to break that stranglehold on energy in this state or in this country, it comes up against entrenched interests, and those entrenched interests are powerful.

Mr TEAGUE: Point of order: standing order 98(a). The minister is dedicated to avoiding the answer. He has just proceeded to debate the matter. It's a simple question. If he wants us onboard believing, tell us how many jobs have been created. A simple question requires an answer.

The SPEAKER: I find it really frustrating that every time the minister gets 20 seconds in, someone stands up and says, 'Give the answer.' He still has minutes on the clock to provide the answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: What I am attempting to do with the opposition is explain to them that when you are building a new industry—we are at the forefront here, the same way we were with grid-scale storage. Grid-scale storage was begun in South Australia and is now the template for every jurisdiction in the western world. It started here. Members opposite were devastated that it worked because they lost their ability to make an attack on the government.

You heard from the quotes I read out from the shadow minister and the leader, who, when they were in office, believed in the promise of hydrogen and advocated for its expansion and its growth and spent government money to try to encourage its investment here in South Australia because they saw the value in decarbonising: trucking, energy, being a reductant for coal and iron ore, to try to remove coal from the iron ore process. They supported it then. But when we do it, they ask these trick questions to try to get a self-serving answer and it is beneath them. We are getting close to an election campaign and they have no energy policy. They have no policy on hydrogen. All we have are the ambitious younger ones trying to get his job.

Mr BATTY: The point of order is again 98. There is less than a minute to go now. The minister should answer the question that he still hasn't answered.

The SPEAKER: I think he is providing some context in the answer and giving some examples of things as he is getting towards the end of his answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The other point about the way the question was asked is what they want me to say is the answer that they have already written down in their minds. They drafted this question this morning, hoping to get a certain answer. It was all part of a tactic. It's not part of any exercise to actually gain any information. It is simply pure theatre. So how about you come up with your own policies, talk about your policies and we will talk about ours. Until then, just hang on to the 13 you have.