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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-02-15 Daily Xml
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Electricity Prices

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): Thank you very much, sir. My question is to the Premier. Given how reliant South Australia currently is on interconnection with other regions in the NEM, how will, and I quote, 'going it alone', as the Premier has promised to do, lead to greater reliability and more affordable prices for South Australians?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:22): You will soon see, Mr Speaker, and this will be the product—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: This will not be the chaotic white-knuckle panic of those opposite responding to the various political pressures they feel under, but it will be the product of a sensible, methodical and well-researched policy response. It will be informed by South Australian state interests. It will not be capitulating to Canberra's political interests.

We have an opportunity in this country to take a national approach to energy policy. We have on the table a sensible proposal for an emissions intensity scheme which would do all of the three things the South Australian system needs—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is on a full set of warnings.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —each of the three things that our system needs. It would provide cleaner power, it would provide more reliable power, it would provide more affordable power by bringing additional competition into the South Australian—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is on a full set of warnings.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Almost every informed commentator in relation to the energy market knows that this is the case. Every informed commentator in relation to the energy market knows that the single most important diagnosis of the problem is a lack of investment, and almost every single informed commentator recognises that the reason that lack of investment has occurred is that there has not been an appropriate price signal in relation to carbon because everybody knows that a carbon price is coming but governments have been unable to actually organise themselves to put a price on carbon.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader's camarilla will cease interjecting.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is as simple as that, and people can make fun of it and they can make slogans about it and they can ridicule it, but it is the truth and it is widely seen as the answer, and we know about the increasing number of the broader business community, indeed, the whole of the community.

We saw the extraordinary situation a few days ago where we had almost every element of civil society represented who called for national action in relation to a national energy policy, and there is only one credible policy which has been promoted at the moment. It has been advocated by the Chief Scientist. And because we have federal politicians running around with lumps of coal and seeking to actually play the sectional interest rather than the national interest, we are being precluded from a solution. That is why South Australia has to go it alone. That is why South Australia is going to take charge of its own energy future.

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