Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

It is very clear that those opposite simply don't get energy policy and they never have. We see it writ large, as I told the Senate earlier, in relation to the energy policies of the state and territory Labor governments. Mr Weatherill describes the South Australian energy market as a 'big experiment'. As Senator Fawcett knows, as I know and as other South Australians should know: it is a big experiment that has gone dangerously wrong in terms of reliability and affordability in SA. Yet, those opposite commit to similar policies, wanting to see a 50 per cent RET by 2030 and committing to 45 per cent emissions reductions targets by 2030, all of which go contrary to the detailed work our government has done to ensure sensible, affordable and achievable emissions targets. Then, when confronted with the AEMO report last week, what did Mr Shorten call it? He said it was a 'bit of a distraction'. A report that says there are risks of shortfall to baseload power in the future is just a 'bit of a distraction'? This is a demonstration that they just don't get it. (Time expired)