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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-29 Daily Xml
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MINI WIND TURBINES

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (14:30): My question is to—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: Another very important issue, Attorney. My question is again to the Premier. What promises did state government MPs or officials make to AI Automotive or its subsidiary, Micro Wind Turbines Australia Pty Ltd, regarding the supply of mini wind turbines to the South Australian government?

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:30): I am happy to respond about the wind turbines. As members know, our state has a really fine record of introducing renewable energy, the equipment and materials. We have some of the most attractive options for geothermal power. We have more grid-connected wind power than any other state and more solar energy per capita than any other state.

Indeed, one of our intentions in terms of wind turbines is to see whether we can be involved at the cutting edge of introducing wind turbines in a more domestic location. Clearly, one can have wind turbines on a large industrial scale, on beachheads and places of that sort, but we were interested to see whether we could introduce them into our capital works projects in schools. Regrettably, the contract we had originally with a supplier found that the supplies from overseas were not suitable to fulfil this contract.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH: Not at all—this was an education project.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH: When one is at the cutting edge of new technology that one wants to install on a more domestic scale than the industrial turbines, one sometimes finds that the suppliers cannot deliver. In this case—

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: My point of order is one of relevance. The question was specifically: what promises did the state, any minister or official of the state government make to AI Automotive or its subsidiary, Micro Wind Turbines Australia Pty Ltd, regarding the supply of these mini wind turbines to the South Australian government?

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH: I think that the member is tilting at windmills. The reality is that a contract existed that could not be fulfilled and was cancelled.

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