Energy Policy

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on the government's current energy policy and any alternative views?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:51): I had a good weekend. My weekend was pretty low-key. There were no internal brawls. We all got along really well. We got on with government and the business of running the state. The Premier did his job. All the ministers are doing their jobs. All the MPs are doing their jobs. None of us changed policy at a branch meeting. None of us changed the direction of the state or the party in any way over the weekend. But what we did do is we reaffirmed our policy, which is a mechanism to make sure that we have gas-fired generation able to firm our renewable resources to provide stability and competition within the market through our firm mechanism that passed the parliament.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: How's that going? It's going exceptionally well. I want to read some quotes out. I think these quotes are very important. You would be surprised who they are from. We will play a bit of a game in question time. Are we ready for this?

The Hon. P.B. Malinauskas: Hydrogen, hydrogen, hydrogen?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, not the 'hydrogen, hydrogen, hydrogen' one. He has had a hard weekend; it's not fair. Let's just lay off. Ready?

We support net zero emissions by 2050, 50 per cent by 2030. We know we've got to do the right thing by the environment.

Any guesses? The Leader of the Opposition. That was pretty impressive. Let me give you another one. Ready?

Australia's energy policy has got to be more sophisticated than simply adopting a slogan concocted by globalist bureaucrats more than a decade ago.

Anyone? The real leader of the Liberal Party, Senator Alex Antic. I will give you another one. Are you ready?

Net zero is a threat to our economy, our security and our country, and I was very heartened by the decision of the South Australian Liberal Party membership to call for it to be scrapped.

Was that the Leader of the Opposition about his party? No. Any guesses? The real leader of the Liberal Party, Alex Antic. This one is my favourite. This one is a keeper:

President Trump, when asked about the South Australian Liberal Party membership rejecting net zero on the weekend, said, 'There's going to be so much winning. You're going to get sick of the winning.'

Who said that? Do you feel like you're winning yet? I hate to correct the Premier, but there are actually three policies on net zero. He forgot to mention one. The federal Liberal Party has gone into a review of net zero, but do you reckon they are going to go down the South Australian path of abandoning it altogether? I bet you Sussan Ley is not. I suspect she might be smarter than the Leader of the Opposition.

Imagine being in the position where you have a stated policy and you have a shadow minister for net zero and nuclear readiness, despite having lost an election on nuclear energy; nevertheless, it remains on the business card. Imagine this: you stand up in here with 13 other people and say it is a policy of the Liberal Party that we have a net zero, yet your party just voted to remove it. Who are you leading? Who are you leading exactly? Who's in charge here? Who's in charge? Show some leadership. Get up and lead. Get up and tell people what your views are. Rebuke Senator Antic. Call on him to apologise. Call on Senator Antic to pull his head in. Tell him that you're in charge of the Liberal Party, and if you don't, then he is, and he's running it, because, Mr Speaker, a house cannot stand divided. A house cannot stand divided. We are united behind the Prime Minister and the Premier. We have one policy to govern this country and one policy to govern this state.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond will leave until the end of question time, and the member for Flinders and the member for Morphett are warned.

The honourable member for Hammond having withdrawn from the chamber: