Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Might I say from the outset to the member for Longman that the member for Fairfax had a speaking engagement in the other chamber, and I think that type of aspersion on his motives is a little low. I thank the member for Fairfax for bringing this to the attention of the Chamber and giving us an opportunity to debate it. I have said on a number of occasions that unfortunately exhibit A in this debate on electricity prices is my home state of South Australia, very sadly. Last year in South Australia, 47 per cent of our electricity came from renewable sources, mainly from wind. More than 50 per cent of the wind towers, Australia's wind towers, the nation's wind towers, are in South Australia. About 60 per cent of those are in my electorate of Grey.

It is interesting that wind is supplying around 5.3 per cent of the national electricity needs, and yet in South Australia it is providing over 40 per cent. There seems to be something of a link here between the fact that we have the most expensive prices in Australia and the least reliable electricity grid. In 2012, in fact, I met with AEMO because I was alarmed that Alinta might cease operation of the Northern Power Station prematurely. I was assured by the commissioner at the time: 'Mr Ramsey, you shouldn't worry about this. We're upgrading the interconnector to Victoria, and even if Port Augusta goes off-line it'll all be fine.' Well, goodness me. What a terrible error of judgement that was, because it has not been fine.

What has happened with the proliferation of the wind towers is that, each time another wind tower block or even solar cell comes on line, it diversifies the electricity content. In an overall sense, that is a good thing. It means there are fewer times that you are deficient in electricity. The wind might not be blowing in one spot, but it is blowing in another. But unfortunately there comes a time when it does not blow anywhere. And every time there is new wind generation capacity brought on it erodes the business case of the base-load generators. So it happened with Alinta's Northern Power Station, and our gas power stations are under great pressure at the moment.

It is worth looking at a few figures. In fact, in 2016 South Australia's wholesale price of electricity was double Victoria's. For the five years to 2015, South Australia's wholesale price was 46 bucks. It went up to $61 in 2016, which was the year that, in May, the Northern Power Station came off-line, and it has gone to $108 this year. Victoria, by comparison, was $38 for the five years to 2015. It went to $46 for 2016, and in 2017 it went to $65. The effect of the closure of Hazelwood is starting to bite very deeply in the Victorian economy.

This motion is about Queensland electricity, so it is worth taking some notes there. In Queensland, for the five years to 2015, it was $47 a megawatt hour. In 2016 it went to $60, and in 2017 it went to $93 a megawatt hour. I turn to the words of the motion where it calls for:

… a full and transparent inquiry to be conducted into the cost of electricity in Queensland …

And refers to:

… the allegations of Rio Tinto that the Queensland Government is manipulating the electricity grid …

Let us go through those figures again: five years to 2015, it was $47; in 2016 it was $60 average for wholesale electricity in Queensland; and in 2017 it was $93.

In fact, in Queensland, because only four per cent of their electricity comes from renewable sources, their generation sources have not changed. The price of coal at the moment is only US$74 a tonne, and yet the price of electricity has doubled in two years. There is something funny in the walls of Denmark, or should I say in the walls of Brisbane? There is something going on here, and it looks like gaming of the system. We know who games the system: it is the people who own the power stations. I say to the people of this place and the members of this place, I say to the government of Queensland: 'Don't make the same mistake South Australia has made. You'll regret it.' I said on a number of occasions that in fact we are quite lucky. South Australia has shown the rest of Australia what not to do. If the disaster that has occurred in South Australia happened in New South Wales, it would drag the whole Australian economy under. Do not make the same mistakes.

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