Regional Energy Supply

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (15:08): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development on the topic of regional power.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: Last week, more than 26,000 homes were without power in the Mid North and on Yorke Peninsula at a time when the temperatures were in the high thirties. The outage resulted in business owners estimating significant financial impacts after having to discard thousands of dollars worth of stock. ElectraNet has claimed that there was a build-up of pollutants on insulators from dust and salt. A spokesperson for the company has said that this will remain a challenge until, and I quote, 'Good rain settles the dust and washes the equipment.' He went on to further state that it is 'simply not possible to wash all of the state's Stobie poles'.

My question to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, therefore, is: what is the minister doing to ensure regional communities are not left without power during heatwaves and bushfire danger days, and will the government commit to finally bringing the electricity network back into public hands to ensure that regional communities are not at the mercy of private corporations who put profits above services?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for his question. I think most of us here would have been having grave concerns for those in the areas that were impacted by such a significant inability to access power. As the honourable member has pointed out, the electricity assets are in control of the private sector following, of course, those opposite or their predecessors selling off ETSA back in the nineties. It is something that looking at last week's experiences I would hope that they may reflect on, but I think they continue to defend it.

I am certainly happy to refer the question to the Minister for Energy in the other place to see if he has anything to add. Of course, he was on radio last week. I understand that he was in communication with ElectraNet, if I remember correctly, and was certainly placing as much pressure as was possible for them to fix the issue. If he has something to add to this I will bring it back to the chamber.