House debates

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Questions without Notice

Energy Security

3:05 pm

Photo of Nicolle FlintNicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My constituency question is to the Minister for Environment and Energy. Can the minister update the House on what the government is doing to provide a more reliable and affordable electricity supply for the constituents and businesses in my electorate of Boothby and across South Australia. Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

3:06 pm

Photo of Josh FrydenbergJosh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her question and acknowledge her deep concern for the very high electricity prices her constituents pay, which are the highest in the National Electricity Market and some 50 per cent higher than the wholesale electricity prices that they pay over the border in Victoria. This makes life tough for Lucas Earthmovers, a family owned business that I visited in the electorate of Boothby. It also makes life tough for the households in Mitcham and Brighton and the small businesses in Dover Gardens and Somerton Park.

We know that Premier Weatherill was conducting a big experiment—in his own words—by the high uptake of intermittent power, namely solar and wind. But that big experiment failed when 1.7 million South Australians went into the black after the blackout in that state. Just yesterday we found out from the Australian Energy Regulator that there were some 10,000 electricity disconnections in South Australia over the last year. Of all the states and territories monitored by the AER, this was the highest number, and the amount owed by those hardship customers in South Australia was the highest of any state or territory monitored by the AER. That is why the coalition is determined to improve energy security and energy affordability. We are doing that by pushing reforms into the gas market through the COAG Energy Council, by commissioning the Finkel review into energy security, by looking into the effectiveness of the limited merits review process and by trying to get a coordinated, harmonised approach across the states and the federal government when it comes to the renewable energy target.

But we are getting no help from those opposite, because they persist with their 50 per cent—unrealistic and job-destroying—renewable energy target; they persist with a carbon tax, which we heard from the member for Hunter is a tax; and they persist in trading away blue-collar jobs in the regions, in the coal-fired power stations, in order to win Green votes in the city. We know that the Leader of the Opposition wants to take Jay Weatherill's experiment and take it national. Shame on him. But you have to understand: it is not just business and the coalition who have a problem with Labor's approach; it is also members of the party represented by those opposite. Graham Richardson has described the Labor Party's policy as stupid, as a farce and as a sell-out of the poor and the pensioners. They are not my words; they are Graham Richardson's. Only the coalition can deliver energy security and energy affordability for all Australians.