Renewable Energy

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:40): I have a supplementary question. Can the minister actually address the question? It was about instability, not blackouts, and there was no mention of the federal government. The question was about your government, and ministers Gago and Koutsantonis sitting at the cabinet table after they were given a warning by an independent expert about instability, not blackouts.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:41): The only instability we are seeing is in the Liberal Party at the moment. Cory Bernardi walking away from them and saying he is washing his hands of the Liberal Party, particularly in South Australia, because he can't have his common-sense views of the world accepted by his Liberal colleagues.

Again, members over there who have had all this time to go away and think up very important questions for the future of our state hark back to a 2003 report, trying to get the government on the hook. They ignore completely the evidence that has been blasted all over the national media about the federal Liberal government ignoring their own advice and creating a lie out there in the community—

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I have a point of order, Mr President. The minister is repeating himself with information that is not relevant to the question. I asked about instability warnings not about blackouts.

The PRESIDENT: Minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Mr President, I went exactly to the point of instability—instability in the Liberal Party—and ignoring expert advice in the Liberal Party at the federal level. They have gone back to a 2003 report trying to get themselves back into the game. It is absolutely embarrassing for them, but we understand that they have absolutely no idea. What is their position: let's ban gas in South Australia, let's ban gas in the South-East even though we have no transition plan whatsoever on how we get ourselves—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! This is question time, it is not a debate. Minister.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: The Liberal opposition has had more positions on energy, renewable energy and nuclear energy, coal-fired power stations and gas fracking than in the very popular—

The Hon. T.A. Franks: The Kama Sutra.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: That's right, that was what I was trying to clutch for. Thank you to the Hon. Tammy Franks, who advises me the appropriate volume I'm trying to refer to is the Kama Sutra. They have no plans whatsoever and yet they come out here with a different position every single day because they realise that the position they took yesterday is going to land them in the soup, somewhere. And here we have the Leader of the Opposition in this place harking back to a 2003 report.

The world has moved on. We can refer to all the evidence—totally ignored by the opposition —about the cost of coal and yet we have the Liberals at the national level and now the state Liberals being coerced into giving away any powers they might have (should they ever be elected in this state) on renewable energy. They are giving it up to the federal government, which now says that coal is good for us and it is going to be a long-term part of our energy solution, when the world knows exactly it is not.

'Why coal won't wash', an article in the Financial Review, stated:

Something rare happened this week: Federal ministers came bearing gifts of taxpayers' money to build 'clean coal' power plants and the intended beneficiaries—the power companies—gave them the bum's rush.

Matthew Warren, head of the Australian Energy Council, said this week even today's high efficiency, low emissions…coal plants are 'uninvestible' and none of his members—the largest power generators in the land—plans to build one.

Yet the Liberals are still hanging their hats and their hopes on coal for the future. They are not the future, they are the past, and that is why the South Australian community will never look to them for leadership when they abdicate their responsibility to the federal government.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Lensink.