ELECTRICITY PRICES, COOBER PEDY

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:37): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development questions about the exorbitant electricity prices in Coober Pedy.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: I asked the government questions on this issue earlier this year during the first session of parliament. I am yet to receive an answer from the minister to the question I asked in July. Since I asked this question, commercial consumers in Coober Pedy have faced another tariff increase of 33 per cent, and the government has flagged a further 30 per cent increase some time next year.

This will amount to a 98 per cent increase in three years which is totally unacceptable. All other states and territories have some policy of equalisation, particularly for those communities not connected to the grid and, therefore, are not exposed to the energy market as metropolitan consumers are. The problem that Coober Pedy faces is that businesses are forced to either absorb costs or pass them on.

Absorption of costs leads to cuts elsewhere (usually the staff), and the passing on of costs, particularly in the tourism industry, leads to a loss in business as these players compete with similar businesses over the border in Alice Springs. All of these problems are caused by increasing electricity prices, and the result will be the end of Coober Pedy as more and more locals struggle to find work to afford the exorbitant cost of living. My questions are:

1. Why has minister Koutsantonis not followed up on the request by Mayor Baines for assistance with the council's feasibility study?

2. Why does the government not have an equalisation scheme in place for remote communities, as do other states and territories?

3. Why has Coober Pedy not been considered for connection to the grid so that renewable technologies such as solar can be trialled?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:40): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions and will refer them to the Minister for Energy in another place and bring back a response.