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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-08-31 Daily Xml
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Electricity Supply

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister offer South Australians a guarantee that they will not suffer from blackouts the summer? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr PATTERSON: Today, the Australian Energy Market Operator revealed that South Australia is at increased risk of blackouts this summer, six years after the last statewide blackout.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Morphett!

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! We've got five minutes left. Let's make it peaceful.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:00): Let's make it exciting, sir, I say. There has been a risk of blackout each and every year the ESOO has been released, including each and every year of the former government.

Mr Patterson: It didn't make the front page of the papers Australia-wide.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Morphett, do you want to actually hear the answer to your question? Well, I suggest you listen.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: One of the ironies in this report is that the ESOO is actually calling out for more investment in renewable energy—more renewable energy—and then members opposite are still interjecting against that investment in renewable energy. Even as the expert report they are quoting as the pinnacle of their attack on the government's energy policy, that same report is calling for an acceleration of renewable energy and members opposite are interjecting, 'Orderly transition.'

At the heart of this is that we are moving from La Niña to El Niño. These are weather patterns. These weather patterns, and an updated methodology within AEMO, mean that they have elevated the risk of a blackout from a one-in-10-year event to a one-in-six-year event, decreasing to the following summer back down to the one-in-10-year event. I don't remember a single time when the previous members opposite were in government when there was a one-in-10-year event or a 10 per cent chance of rolling blackouts that members opposite got up and said a word about it—not a word about it, nothing.

Instead, what they do—the lovers of base load generation opposite, the members opposite who love base load generation so much—is every time they get their hands on it they sell it and they sell it to the highest bidder.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir, standing order 98: there was a period of silence during which the minister chose to debate, not responding to interjections.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: There was a period of silence. I missed it, actually, it must have been that short, but the minister is getting to the answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I do not think that South Australians should be alarmed. I do not think South Australians should be worried despite the best efforts of members opposite. I think what you are seeing—

Mr Cowdrey: Guarantee it then.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Well, members opposite yell out, 'Guarantee it.' Premier Playford, looking down disapprovingly on members opposite, would know that when he was facing blackouts—and he was facing control from New South Wales on South Australia's electricity supplies—he held a royal commission to nationalise and created the Electricity Trust of South Australia. Why? He didn't want to be relying on other states for our power. What did members opposite do? We built 250 megawatts of generation, they privatised it, then they built an interconnector to New South Wales to be reliant on New South Wales' base load again.

Here we are, history repeating. Every time we lose an election, they sell whatever we build. We built 250 megawatts of generation, they sell it; we are building 250 megawatts now, if they win they will sell it. We build up ETSA, they sell it. And then they have the temerity to come here and say, 'Hey, despite us selling Northern power station, why didn't you keep it open? Despite us selling Torrens Island power station, why don't you keep it open? Despite—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: Dirty diesel.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Dirty diesel? The diesel generators that they privatised are still on diesel. They were on diesel for the entire time of the previous government. They have only just been converted to gas. This is just a ridiculous argument. What we are seeing is a coordinated investment in renewable energy in this state and more storage. When we built the Hornsdale battery, members opposite laughed. It is now the template not across the country but across the world. We're investing in hydrogen power, green hydrogen. They are ridiculing it and mocking it. It will become the template around the world. Members opposite are harking back to solutions that just do not exist.

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