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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-15 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Power Supply

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Leader of the Government about South Australian safety and wellbeing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: On 1 November, the Leader of the Government was asked a question in this place about the precarious position South Australia finds itself in in relying heavily on the Victorian interconnector for its energy security. On the weekend, the interconnector received considerable damage from the storm activity, resulting in South Australia becoming disconnected from the Eastern States.

The most important purpose of any democratic parliament is community safety and wellbeing, so my questions to the Leader of the Government are:

1. What guarantee will he and his government give to our community to ensure that South Australians can keep their lights on and afford to keep their lights on?

2. Will the government explain what immediate measures it has put in place, other than another review, to minimise the risks to energy security?

3. Given there is sunshine forecast on Thursday and we lead the nation for solar energy generation, how will his government offload excess energy generation on Thursday without a functioning interconnector?

4. Can you rule out rolling state blackouts and have you learnt nothing since you plunged us into a statewide blackout in 2016?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:40): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her enthusiastic and dramatic start to question time.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: There are many things that the government can and will do for the benefit of South Australia. Controlling the weather, I am afraid, is not one of them that is within the power of the state government. What I would like to do, though—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —is thank, firstly, the many, many volunteers, the many, many professionals—not just of our state emergency team but those who work repairing powerlines in what are difficult and sometimes dangerous situations—and those, I think, 80-odd people who have come from New South Wales to help in South Australia after the catastrophic weather events we saw over the weekend.

When major transmission lines that feed into an interconnector go down, that creates difficulties for a state. What I don't accept, and I don't think any reasonable person accepts, is that somehow renewable energy had anything to do with the weather events and the downing of, I think the media reports said, some 500-odd powerlines throughout the state and certainly the interconnector to Tailem Bend. One thing that I will note is that—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —I think the science is well established and becoming more and more established—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —that as a result of human-induced climate change we run an increasingly greater risk of extreme weather events. We run an increasingly greater risk of hotter days during the summer period.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I think the science is now demonstrating we run an increasingly greater risk of natural disasters, of bushfires and floods and of extreme weather. I know that there are many good people across government departments who worked tirelessly over the weekend and are continuing to work to ensure the supply of electricity systems in South Australia is working as well as it can be, given the catastrophic weather events we saw over the weekend.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The two leaders, the way this works is that I will call the Leader of the Opposition and she will ask a question and the Leader of the Government will answer it. It's a new thing. I call the honourable Leader of the Opposition.

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