Electricity Costs in Remote Aboriginal Communities

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:02): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs questions about electricity charges in remote Aboriginal communities in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: We understand the mandatory prepayment for electricity, something that we have raised with the minister previously in this place, commenced incrementally across APY lands, Yalata and Oak Valley communities from 13 July 2022. As yet there has been no public quarterly reporting against the required metrics as promised by ESCOSA in June 2022, and this is despite the mandatory prepayment system being in place for almost a year now in some communities. With reference to prepayment by default customers in affected Aboriginal communities, my questions to the minister are:

1. Why has the public reporting of the required quarterly performance data by ESCOSA not occurred yet, nearly 12 months after the rollout of the scheme?

2. When will ESCOSA publish the quarterly performance data on its website?

3. What is the frequency and duration of involuntary self-disconnections for mandatory prepayment customers since the commencement of user-pays in those communities?

4. ESCOSA flagged a 12-month review of the rollout program, and we still haven't seen any data on that. Given that we still haven't had any public reporting, will this promised review still take place next month?

5. How are communities feeling now that they have experienced a mandatory prepayment system for their essential energy needs—particularly young people, older people and those with health conditions—when experiencing disconnections from electricity services due to the inability to pay?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for her questions. The questions in relation to reports from ESCOSA I don't have any information on, but I am certainly happy to ask the minister responsible for the Essential Services Commission. I suspect it's the Treasurer in relation to the Essential Services Commission, but it is a matter to do with electricity so I will have to check whether it's the energy minister or the Treasurer who has direct responsibility for reports of ESCOSA. I will make sure that the minister who is responsible for ESCOSA reports provides an answer in relation to those.

In relation to the final part of the question about the views of the community, I think I answered a question from the opposition yesterday about the last time I was in the APY lands, which was at the end of April, when I spent time there. As I answered yesterday, I spent time in communities from the very western side of the APY lands at Kalka and Pipalyatjara through to communities including Umuwa and Pukatja, and Mimili and Iwantja.

In terms of disconnections, I don't recall. I don't think anybody raised the issue of disconnections with me or the issue of electricity with me during that visit, but I will see if there are reports and if there are statistics available on how the rollout of the charging for electricity is progressing. I know it's something that, if my memory serves me correctly, the APY lands, and maybe Oak Valley as well in the Maralinga Tjarutja lands, were the only jurisdictions in the whole of the country that essentially had free electricity, with diesel generation, in most of the individual communities, the usage of which has long been an area of concern.

I think if you go just over the border from Pipalyatjara, for example, to the NT community of Mutitjulu or the WA communities of Wangolina and Blackstone, certainly there are charges for electricity. The phased introduction across the APY lands, which if my memory serves me correctly is somewhere around a quarter of the cost that would be paid elsewhere, brought the APY lands into line with every other Aboriginal community around Australia.

I know there has been debate in this chamber about it, and it's something certainly I checked when the debate was in this chamber and upon coming to government. It was a longstanding commitment to phase in the introduction of charges for electricity that, as I understand it, was supported by government and even the Department for Aboriginal Affairs at the time of the consultations.

There are differing views but there is support for the introduction of the phased-in charging, albeit at a very significantly discounted rate. It's not something that I can remember anyone raising with me. There were many issues raised over my last visit just under two months ago, but this wasn't one that I can remember coming up. But in relation to ESCOSA reports, I will certainly refer that to the correct minister in another place and bring back a reply.