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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-10-31 Daily Xml
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Energy Security Target

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): Supplementary: given that the Premier has just indicated to this house that his government supports the energy security target and an energy intensity scheme in South Australia, will the government persist with taxpayer-funded advertising saying that their plan will reduce energy prices when stakeholders clearly say that it will actually increase prices for South Australians?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for the Arts) (14:29): I don't know where the voice is that the Leader of the Opposition is listening to. Perhaps some of those stakeholders are coal-fired power interests, because they are the only voices that the Leader of the Opposition hears when he stands up on the energy debate. The Liberal Party of Australia are utterly beholden to coal interests. They hand around lumps of coal in the federal parliament. Those opposite cheer them on.

We in this state understand that taking the energy associated with the renewable sources of sunlight and wind power, and storing them, represents a renewable energy future. It is already creating the jobs up in Jamestown, as local contractors are working to put in place the world's largest lithium ion battery. They are going to create jobs and opportunities in Port Augusta, as those workers from the old coal-fired power station find new roles working in the solar thermal plant. It is providing jobs and opportunities in our western suburbs, as companies that were working in the automotive component sector are now making heliostats to have a future in this renewable energy sector.

We are seeing great new companies like Buddy Platform, which is providing the high-tech algorithms which allow companies to save 5 to 10 per cent of their energy bills, because they understand that the future is in the technologies that create the energy-saving measures that are saving those businesses thousands and thousands of jobs. It is also creating jobs and opportunities in the new retailers like ZEN Energy partnering up with Sanjeev Gupta to create a homegrown renewable energy retailer here in South Australia, not only powering his own power plant at the steelworks at Whyalla but the rest of Arrium's former operations around the nation and also his ambitions to push into the aluminium sector.

This is the future—an industrialist choosing green energy to supply their needs. Those opposite scoff at green energy and renewable energy. On this side of the house, we understand that it represents the future.

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