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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-09-24 Daily Xml
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Hydrogen Action Plan

Mrs POWER (Elder) (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is creating jobs in new industries.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Energy and Mining.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:35): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens can leave for 20 minutes under 137A.

The honourable member for West Torrens having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Energy and Mining has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and thank you to the member for Elder for this question. Her question was specifically about creating jobs in new industries. As the Premier mentioned just a little while ago, he launched our Hydrogen Action Plan today when he did the official opening for the International Conference on Hydrogen Safety here in Adelaide, the first time this conference has ever been held in the Southern Hemisphere, let alone in South Australia—so a terrific day. I thank the people who work in the Department for Energy and Mining, particularly Nick Smith and his team, for their work not only to attract the conference to Adelaide but to actually chair it, help run it and make it go so smoothly.

The Hydrogen Action Plan is incredibly important. There are countries that have set themselves targets and, in some cases, mandated targets for the consumption of hydrogen as part of their emissions reduction strategy, but those countries quite often can't supply the hydrogen to themselves. This is a tremendous opportunity for South Australia because we have a very firm intention to be a world leader in regard to the production, the domestic consumption and the export of hydrogen to those countries.

It is actually a terrific partnership opportunity, with $4.2 billion worth of exports by 2040 for Australia, and we really are in the box seat to get as much of that as we possibly can. There are thousands of jobs connected to this and the partnerships with these countries. For example, Japan and South Korea are two countries in exactly that situation. Those countries can't produce the hydrogen themselves.

But what they do have, as well as a set of policies around the demand, is tremendous technology and manufacturing in regard to shipping—shipbuilding. We can partner with them and we can produce the hydrogen, clean hydrogen, here in South Australia. They have a strong pedigree in regard to the shipping and we can work very closely together with those countries. It is an outstanding opportunity. I have to give some credit to the former government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: When they found themselves in a diabolical situation, having taken dreadful advantage of electricity consumers in South Australia, nearly a decade—

Mr Hughes interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles is on two warnings.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —of increased electricity prices, an unprecedented statewide blackout—

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Ramsay!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —and many other blackouts, they finally decided that they would try to do something. In the lead-up to the last election—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles can leave for 20 minutes under 137A. The member for Kavel will be joining him, if he continues.

The honourable member for Giles having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: In the lead-up to the last election, in a desperate attempt at trying to finally discover good energy policy, the previous government did make some announcements in regard to hydrogen. At the time, we supported them and, very importantly, the Marshall Liberal government is actually fulfilling those commitments on behalf of the people of South Australia.

We take this very seriously. We are committed to delivering more affordable, more reliable and cleaner electricity to the people of South Australia. The member for Elder is very well aware of this. She is a very strong supporter of the project we have in her electorate in regard to introducing 5 per cent and then 10 per cent hydrogen into the already existing gas reticulation network in Mitchell  Park, something that will prove up how we can blend hydrogen with natural gas to reduce emissions. This is one of many planks to our energy policy which will be far better for South Australians than anything that the previous Labor government ever did for them.

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