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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-10-19 Daily Xml
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Power Outages

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): My question is to the Premier. Did the Premier deliberately mislead the South Australian community when he repeatedly claimed that the statewide blackout event was caused by the collapse of the high-voltage transmission lines in South Australia?

The SPEAKER: Before the Premier answers, read the question again.

Mr MARSHALL: My question was: did the Premier deliberately mislead the South Australian community when he repeatedly claimed that the statewide blackout event was caused by the collapse of the high-voltage transmission lines?

The SPEAKER: Imputations that a member misled the community are permissible.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Point of order: it was debate, and latitude should be provided to the Premier in giving his answer accordingly.

The SPEAKER: I will allow the Premier to answer the question in the spirit in which it is asked. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:32): Mr Speaker, I heard this rumour earlier today that the—

Ms Chapman: How about answering the question?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I'll get there and you'll enjoy it. I did hear a rumour earlier today that the Liberal Party were going to mount a proposition that this blackout wasn't due to the storm. And I thought, no, surely they wouldn't be that stupid—surely they wouldn't be that stupid. Have they—

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: I'm sorry, I will take the deputy leader's point of order. I won't have heard what it is about. I'm afraid I was in a conversation with the Opposition Whip. What is the allegation?

Ms CHAPMAN: It will be a dark day when the Premier claims to be in charge of the Liberal Party of South Australia. This is clearly debate, nothing to do—

The SPEAKER: As is the point of order. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We have been running rings around them for some time, Mr Speaker, and we don't intend to stop right now. I did hear this rumour that they were going to erect a proposition that the storm didn't cause the blackout—and here it emerges.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: The last point of order was rendered bogus by the deputy leader not making a point of order at all, so I hope this is going to be a point of order.

Ms CHAPMAN: Relevance.

The SPEAKER: I will wait for the Premier to join up his remarks.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: These are preparatory words, sir. It is extraordinary that, despite the fact that we have the AEMO report published today, they are seeking to advance this idea that the storm didn't cause the blackout. Let me take you to the report, page 5 of the report, released today. It is now known—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Would you like to listen to the answer?

The SPEAKER: The leader has been called to order and warned twice.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The alternative that the transmission lines fell down by themselves I presume is the proposition. But, anyway, let's—

The Hon. J.J. Snelling interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Health is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Can we just go back to the report. It is now known—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is now known that five system faults occurred within a period of 88 seconds on 28 September 2016. These—

Mr Marshall: That's not the transmission lines.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Just wait and you will find out; we will join these things up. These system faults led to six voltage disturbances. Okay, are we right with that?

Mr Wingard: Are you okay with the state blacking out?

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Page 14 of the report details—you have to read past the executive summary, you see—and I quote:

Extreme weather conditions resulted in five system faults on the SA transmission system, with three transmission lines ultimately lost to the power system.

These are the faults caused by the extreme weather, the storm that began a series of events which is now documented. In fact, the following pages, pages 15, 16, 17 and, most specifically, page 18, detail the faults on the transmission lines that resulted in the six voltage disturbances. I quote from page 18: 'Five transmission line—'

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You can't be this stupid.

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer has been called to order and warned twice.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: 'Five transmission line faults, resulting in six voltage disturbances on the network, led to the SA region Black System.' It is quite embarrassing for the Leader of the Opposition to be erecting this proposition that the extreme weather, the storm, did not cause the defects which then led to the cascading series of events which led to the blackout. No storm, no blackout—this is contained within the report. Such is the—

Mr Bell: You said a tower went over and the state went out.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: They are doubling down on this and I am glad they are, sir, because we are going to hang this around their neck. They are doubling down on the attack on renewable energy in this state. We stand by the renewable energy industry. We stand by it because it's the right thing to do for our state, our nation and our planet. It will create jobs and prosperity in the long term. In the long term, it will lead to a more secure, a cleaner and lower cost energy system for our state.

Mr Tarzia: You have been saying that for years. Where are the jobs? You can't even keep the power on.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley has been called to order and warned twice.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I will finish on this point: when there is a choice between this Leader of the Opposition standing up for this state or the Liberal Party, he chooses the Liberal Party every time.

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