Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

the lights will once again go off. It was the Howard government that originally introduced a renewable energy target of two per cent in 1997. The Howard government then accepted the recommendation of a review committee in 2003, which was that the target should remain at two per cent. What did we see? The South Australian Labor government radically increased that percentage. We have seen the Victorian government, despite what happened in South Australia, wanting to move towards levels of renewable energy as high as 40 and 50 per cent. Then we have had Mr Shorten, the Leader of the Opposition, speaking about an increase in renewables to 50 per cent by 2030. The circumstance, contrary to that which Senator Farrell just mentioned, is that the South Australian government caused the coal-fired power station at Port Augusta to be decommissioned. I do not have the time in this afternoon's contribution to go into the vagaries of wind power, but we know that, firstly, it is intermittent; secondly, it is unreliable; and, thirdly, it is unpredictable in terms of when, if, how much and for how long it will generate energy. We also know that, on the occasion of the recent blackout in South Australia, it was a software problem associated with the wind turbines that commenced the debacle that became the loss of the interconnector from Victoria.

Victoria is currently a net exporter of electricity, but it will soon become a net importer as a result of the decision made only in the last few days for the 1,600-megawatt base load capacity Victorian power station at Hazelwood to be decommissioned. It is interesting that it was only in the relatively recent time of the Gillard government that a $500 million subsidy was given to keep that power station alive. We now have the Victorian government rushing around the countryside talking about subsidies to be given to those who will be disaffected. Regrettably, we had the Greens boasting about the loss of jobs occasioned by that particular circumstance. The story is that Victoria will supposedly become a net importer of electricity. It has been put to me that Tasmania will be one of the suppliers. Let me assure you that there is no way any time soon that Tasmania can be a reliable supplier of power to Victoria. The turbines in the hydro electricity scheme are badly overworked and underserviced. The level of water in their dams is such that they will not be able to generate sufficient electricity. And, indeed, they have cooked the Basslink link between Tasmania and Victoria, so it is not operational. Going back to Hazelwood, just to make sure it was closed, the Andrews government placed an incredible increase in the size of royalties on coal to make sure that it would become uneconomic.

I am really more interested in solutions for the future. Firstly, there is the possibility of hydro electricity being extended with greater efficiency in the Snowy Mountains scheme software and hardware activities. We know already that Tasmania is 100 per cent hydro and therefore renewable. Secondly, we have a relatively unlimited offshore gas supply off north-west Western Australia. The long-term capacity exists for that to be piped across to the eastern states to a hub in northern South Australia, to be distributed south into South Australia and then across into Victoria and New South Wales. That is eminently feasible and possible. Thirdly, and one that is off the agenda at the moment but I will mention it again briefly, is tidal power from the north of Western Australia. In France, the Rance power station, which generates power by tidal water flow, has been operating for 40 years. How can we bring it south? We do so through high voltage DC transmission lines of the diameter of a normal coaster. I could go on at greater length about the solutions—there are many—but where we are now is no solution. (Time expired)