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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-15 Daily Xml
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Extreme Weather Conditions

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (14:37): Thank you, sir. I thought you were warning me again. I thought, 'What did I do this time?' My question is to the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy. Can the minister give further information to the house on the recent report into the 28 September weather events?

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer may have an answer while he is still here.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (14:37): Thank you for the presumption of innocence, sir. It is a unique option for you, I think. Yesterday, the Bureau of Meteorology released its report into the extreme weather event that ravaged our state, causing widespread damage and flooding in September.

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The report details—calm down, comrade! The report is coming. Don't worry! The report details that seven tornadoes hit the north of our state, adding to the widespread damaging winds, large hail and tens of thousands of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. The bureau's report made some significant findings that once and for all put to bed some of the erroneous suggestions from so many, including our Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, that the state's high level of renewable energy was in some way to blame for the system black event.

The report from the independent agency, a commonwealth agency, found that a super cell thunderstorm, including seven tornadoes with wind gusts of up to 260 km/h, tore through major transmission lines in the state's north. Evidence collected has confirmed that an F2 tornado, which means wind speeds of up to 260 km/h, cut a direct path across the Davenport to Mount Lock transmission lines, destroying five transmission towers.

The report also found that another F2-rated tornado was in the vicinity of the Brinkworth-Templars West transmission line at the time two transmission towers were destroyed. Also reported was that the Davenport to Brinkworth transmission line was brought down by sustained severe winds from the supercell thunderstorm. This is the backbone of the state's transmission network. The report states—and this is directly quoting from the Bureau of Meteorology, an independent commonwealth agency:

Five faults led to the Black System Event, with four of these occurring on three transmission lines (Brinkworth - Templars West, Davenport - Belalie and Davenport - Mt Lock)…

A severing of these lines began a series of events that eventuated in a system black at 3.48pm on 28 September. This report should put to rest the debate over who or what was to blame for the blackout.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Comrade, it's coming, don't worry. Prime Minister—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

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

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It's a Greens left-wing tactic to continually interject, sir. They are getting very good at it from their training from Bob Brown.

The SPEAKER: I am glad you have adopted that aspect of Trotskyism in your career.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Never, sir, but I recognise it when I see it, and I can see it opposite. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce have used the blackout to attack renewable energy policies in other states, just as recently, unfortunately, the member for Dunstan claimed that the storms did not cause the blackout. This Bureau of Meteorology report, along with the most recent Australian Energy Market Operator report, clearly and definitely states that the storm was the cause of the blackout.

Mr Bell: The entire state blackout? That storm?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes. Again, this is not me saying this; this is two independent inquiries. I know members opposite don't like it when scientists have a say. They don't like the idea of scientists having a say. The report clearly and definitely states that it was, of course, the storm that led to the unsustained voltage shocks that caused the system black event. It is time for members opposite to end their coal crusade, to end their devotion to coal, and start accepting that we are in the 21st century, not the 19th century.

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