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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-15 Daily Xml
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PORT ELLIOT POWER BLACKOUT

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:24): I wish to draw the house's attention to serious issues that occurred at Port Elliot on 2 January when the power was turned off without the knowledge of local businesses or residents, although some say that there were warnings. There were no warnings to the good residents of Port Elliot. That day is the busiest day of the year, following New Year's Day. It is the day of greatest trade down there.

ETSA informed me that, after consultation with the CFS, it turned the power off because of high winds and temperatures forecast down that way. Readings were taken, as I understand it, from Hindmarsh Island. The wind abated on Hindmarsh Island at about 1 o'clock and was not so severe in many parts of the Fleurieu that day. It took several hours to get the power back on. I have taken this matter up with ETSA and with the electricity ombudsman. I am awaiting a response from the ombudsman. I currently have a response from ETSA, which I am not entirely happy with. However, in fairness to ETSA, both the CEO, Mr Stobbe, and also Mrs Sue Filby, have been most helpful.

The point I make is that the power blackout on 2 January resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of dollars to business. It could quite easily have resulted in the loss of life in the elderly community down there. Family members did not have time to go and get their parents, grandparents, or whoever, out of the area and take them elsewhere. If they were home alone with no air conditioning—a lot of people rely on air conditioning these days—it could have been a very serious situation. Fortunately, I am not aware of any reports of the ambulance service treating people with heatstroke, or whatever, in their homes that day.

The infrastructure appears to me to be waning badly. This infrastructure has been around for 30, 40, 50 years. Once upon a time we owned this infrastructure. There has been a lack of replacement. My view is that this situation was very poorly handled on that particular day. While the wind was howling on Hindmarsh Island and was not anywhere near as bad at Port Elliot, the power was turned off in various locations. It took hours and hours to get it back on, purely and simply because it was a public holiday, I guess. ETSA had only emergency crews rostered on. I do not believe they called in crews quickly enough to check the lines and get the power back on.

I have been approached by business operators in Port Elliot. For example, Mr Phil Hallett from the Royal Family Hotel has contacted me, as have the operators of the Hotel Elliot. I have doorknocked there and have spoken to different businesses; they are all dreadfully upset. A lot of them were simply told by some people to get a generator. Well, it costs $80,000 to $100,000 for a generator to keep a hotel going—for perhaps one or two days a year. What a ridiculous thing to say. I do not think it is good enough.

That leads to the issue of compensation. After Ash Wednesday in 1983, legislation was rushed through Australia to avoid having to pay compensation. I think it is time we revisited this, quite frankly, once and for all. We need to go back over the legislation—whether it be commonwealth, state, or whatever—and have a good look, because these people are seriously out of pocket. It has put an enormous blight on the tourism potential of Port Elliot.

People are extremely concerned that, in future, on hot days during summer, and during the school holidays, visitors will not come back purely and simply because of bad publicity. I think a lot of answers need to be given. When I get a response from the electricity ombudsman, I am going to hold a meeting with the businesses down there, and ETSA has agreed to come down and speak to them, which is good.

I seriously question this. The CFS says that, no, it did not tell ETSA to turn the power off and ETSA is saying that, yes, they consulted. ETSA was told this by its operations people on the switchboard. Many things in this situation are seriously awry, and we want some straight answers. It is an important matter that I bring to the parliament, because it could well happen in other places. I am most concerned about the effects of this situation.

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