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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-04-11 Daily Xml
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State Energy Plan

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:53): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of the Government Business in this house some questions regarding the government's announcements with respect to the state's energy crisis.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: In March, the Weatherill Labor government announced its fix-it plan to the state's power problem. The largest item of expenditure announced at the time was $360 million, most likely unfunded, for a 250-megawatt power plant—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: What, you had a lazy $360 million sitting in the coffers? Come on! The largest item of expenditure announced at this time was $360 million for a 250-megawatt power plant which, by the way, sir, we have been advised will sit idle most of the time. My questions to the minister therefore are:

1. Is this government plan the cheapest or greenest way of guaranteeing supply to South Australia?

2. When the government was coming up with its plan, was any consideration given to supporting a proposal that the New South Wales government and power company TransGrid have already been out publicly advocating for, namely, to build an interconnector between South Australia and New South Wales?

3. According to a PwC report, which is available on the TransGrid website, this interconnector would cost an estimated $500 million—for which I understand minister Hunter's friends, the commonwealth government, would be prepared to look at partnership arrangements—and would provide a transmission capacity of 650 megawatts in each direction. Modelling in the PwC report also indicates the interconnector would decrease the average price in South Australia by around $16 a megawatt hour—much needed relief, if it occurred. Can the minister tell the parliament what modelling has been done on the government's new gas-fired plant and the proposed battery storage facility and what the modelling tells us about future energy costs here in South Australia?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:55): I thank the honourable member for his questions. Certainly, when this plan was being developed, cabinet took a lot of advice—a lot of expert advice, as the honourable member would appreciate from his very, very brief time in cabinet a very, very long time ago. I will not talk about what cabinet discusses, but I think it is safe to say that the government considered a very, very wide range of options before coming up with the elements of the plan, based on a lot of expert advice.

The honourable member also asked about the interconnector with New South Wales. Sadly, the Hon. Rob Lucas did everything to scuttle, to raise the price that he got when he sold off South Australia's power assets—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, sit down. You don't want to get in the way of this discussion, so just let them talk it out and then you can get up and continue your answer. Minister.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Thank you, Mr President. As has been pointed out in this chamber, there is a big difference between our plan and the alternatives, because there aren't any alternative plans. Certainly, in terms of the interconnection that the honourable member raised, I think it was half a million dollars that the government provided for a study on interconnection with New South Wales, which we would have had by now if it were not for the Hon. Rob Lucas trying to pump up the price of the sale of ETSA all those years ago, when the honourable member who asked the question may well have been in cabinet. So yes, of course that has been considered, and there is a study for that and it does not mean that it can't occur sometime in the future.

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