Josh 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 that her constituents from Mitcham to Blackwood and from Dover Gardens to Somerton Park have experienced the hard economic and community costs that came with the SA blackout on 28 September. It was against this backdrop that the COAG Energy Council meeting was called and ministers came together to find more common ground. We were briefed on the developments in battery storage, on the hardening of infrastructure and on the need for more interconnection between states. We of course had a briefing from the market operator on what happened in South Australia and we had a robust discussion about the aggressive state based renewable targets and the implications that they have.

There was a big breakthrough at the meeting on two key points: firstly, there was an express agreement by the ministers that their primary responsibility is energy security, reliability and affordability; and, secondly, there was an agreement by ministers that there would be an independent review that would be chaired by the Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, which would look at energy security and provide recommendations to ministers about policy and legislative and governance reforms that may be needed.

But I am asked, 'Are there any challenges to this approach?' The greatest challenge comes from those opposite, with their reckless pursuit of an ideological approach to renewable energy targets without thinking through the implications for energy security. The Leader of the Opposition has a renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030. We are told that will require 10,000 turbines. Where are they going to be built? In Maribyrnong, I presume!

Mr Watts interjecting—

Mr Conroy interjecting—

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