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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-23 Daily Xml
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Hydrogen

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister please update the house on hydrogen projects in South Australia?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:58): Thank you to the member for Hammond.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: I really appreciate the member for Hammond's strong support for the people of his electorate and our state more broadly and his keen interest in these hydrogen projects. He has asked me about some hydrogen project proposals, and it is a pleasure to share some information with him, and of course with you and with this house. There are some fantastic projects working at the moment.

H2U is developing a terrific program on Eyre Peninsula. AGIG has a fantastic project up and running at Tonsley, which I had the great pleasure of attending the opening with the Premier, Professor Alan Finkel—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —and many other distinguished people who actually on that day said to us—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will cease interjecting.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: This was a project that we had been working on for a long time but, goodness gracious, once the Marshall Liberal government came into power this project expanded, this project grew and this project is much better than it ever would have been under other circumstances. It's fantastic to be able to talk about that and, as members opposite know, the Treasurer is going through an expressions of interest process with regard to government-owned, taxpayer-owned land—I think about 2,200 hectares of land—at Port Bonython, with the express purpose of using that land for the benefit of South Australians—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —to develop a hydrogen hub there.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: That fits in with the federal government's plans for hydrogen hubs around the country. In fact, only a few days ago the federal government announced an additional $150 million, bringing it to $450 million for hydrogen hubs around Australia. In their list, they explicitly mention Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, as a great place to develop a hydrogen hub. So we are doing an enormous amount of work here. There is another project that members might be aware of, and that's the opposition's hydrogen project proposal.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: For shame!

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Energy and Mining will resume his seat. Members on my right!

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is called to order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Ashamed of his own project.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Energy and Mining is warned.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left! The leader will cease interjecting. The member for West Torrens rises on a point of order. The member for West Torrens has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you, sir: standing order 96:

2. questions may be put to other Members but only if such questions relate to any Bill, motion or other public business for which those Members, in the opinion of the Speaker, are responsible to the House.

The SPEAKER: I am familiar with the standing order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Minister for Energy and Mining has no responsibility to the house for any policy of the Australian Labor Party.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! I am well aware of the terms of the standing order to which the member for West Torrens adverts, and I am also very conscious of the bounds within which the minister may answer the question in accord with that standing order. I am listening carefully to the Minister for Energy and Mining's answer. The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: The member for Hammond asked me about hydrogen projects. I have talked about one from H2U, I have talked about one from AGIG, I have talked about the state government's work, I have talked about the federal government's work and I am perfectly entitled to talk about another hydrogen project as well, one which was announced six months ago to the day.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will resume his seat. The member for West Torrens rises on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 96 again, sir: the Minister for Energy and Mining has no responsibility to the house for the policies of the South Australian opposition.

The SPEAKER: I don't—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Sir, there are precedents on this.

The SPEAKER: I don't uphold the point of order, for the time being at least. The minister is entitled to address the question and, in so doing, to address the substance of the question by reference to a range of projects. I listened carefully to the question and I am listening carefully to the minister in answering the question. The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: This project, which those opposite say they want to build on behalf of the people of South Australia with approximately $600 million, is nowhere near the amount of money required. Public expert information provided by the CSIRO and other international experts says that they are approximately $500 million short of their target. All I do, very simply, is call on the opposition: release your costings, release your modelling and provide all the information for all South Australia to see.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I will save the member for West Torrens from needing to, as I anticipate, rise on a point of order. There are bounds within which the minister is entitled to address a range of projects/initiatives within the subject matter of the question. They don't extend squarely to addressing beyond a certain extent the particular terms of individual parties' policies or programs. The minister, as I anticipate, has concluded his answer.

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