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

Yes, he had doughnuts at the launch. He thought that some doughnuts, some Hollywood, some Elon Musk and a big battery would be the answer for South Australia's energy woes! But that battery can keep South Australia going for as much as five minutes. That is what the storage answer from the Labor Party is whereas we are investing in Snowy Hydro 2.0, which can add up to 350,000 megawatt hours of storage. That compares to the 129 megawatt hours you get from Elon Musk's battery and some doughnuts and some Hollywood in South Australia.

So the coalition has taken steps around networks, steps around retailers, steps around storage, steps around gas and we are going to see a much more stable energy system. We quickly accepted the 49 Finkel recommendations to ensure that large generators give a minimum of three years notice before they can close—not to mention the requirement that, from now on, wind and solar provide their own levels of storage, which previously wasn't the case. They're just some of the recommendations that we accepted from the Finkel review which will make a difference to the stability of the system.

The Prime Minister was concerned that, with the predicted closure of Liddell in 2022, there would be a supply shortfall in the market. That's why we asked the Australian Energy Market Operator to give us a report into the level of dispatchable power we need in the system, and they indicated that, were Liddell to close in 2022, there would be a 1,000-megawatt shortage of supply. What did the member for Port Adelaide say? He said that this is not a problem. He even challenged the premise of the Australian Energy Market Operator's own findings. What did the Leader of the Opposition say? The Leader of the Opposition said: 'This is a distraction. This is the wrong priority. This is an issue for down the track.' An issue for down the track? This is an issue for today.

That is why the coalition is taking steps, reaching out to AGL and asking them to consider keeping Liddell open for an additional five years or selling it to another party. That is what the AGL board will consider. But the reality is that the Labor Party turned their back on the Australian Energy Market Operator and have turned their back on the recognition that when they were in office they ignored the warnings from the Australian Energy Market Operator and from their own energy white paper about the need to ensure sufficient gas supplies in the domestic market and not to export all their gas overseas.

So we're taking actions across a number of fronts, but the Labor Party is in denial, because that is the party that has seen, in Victoria and in South Australia, a heightened risk of blackouts. My colleagues the member for Chisholm and the member for Deakin would be interested to know that, according to this AEMO report, the state with the highest risk of blackout coming to the end of this year and the state that AEMO is most concerned about is Victoria, where there is a 43 per cent risk of load shedding or supply shortfalls. The member for McMillan would be interested to know that in his own state the Daniel Andrews Labor government has closed down Hazelwood, has restricted gas, has put in a renewable-energy-only target and is doing nothing to ensure the affordability and reliability of the system. The member for Port Adelaide should be ashamed to associate himself with that failed, big experiment in South Australia, from a tired old Labor government, nearly 16 years old. The Labor Party is the party of higher prices and a less stable power system.

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