Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): Following the Prime Minister's visit to the Snowy Hydro scheme last week, I visited South-East Queensland's equivalent, the Wivenhoe Power Station. I went there last week. It is a pumped storage hydro facility, and I learnt a lot. Hydro power is, after all, the only renewable energy source today that is capable of producing base load power with the technical aspects that we need around inertia and so on. But pumped hydro is also really the only type of renewable energy that is supported by South-East Queensland's terrain. I want to make the point that it is the type of solution that a competent government should be looking at to solve the problems imposed by increasing reliance on intermittent power sources, such as wind and solar, if you do try to introduce a renewable energy target. This government has announced initiatives to support exploring pumped storage. The PM has announced Snowy 2.0. We are the ones with the vision and the plan to be competent deliverers. Do not confuse the current debate as anything other than a debate about competence in delivery of energy policy.

Debate adjourned.