Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry, representing the Minister for Employment. Will the minister outline to the House the impact that an unreliable energy supply has on businesses and jobs? Is the minister aware of any examples where the costs and reliability of energy has caused businesses to reconsider their future?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fisher for his question because at least the member for Fisher is prepared to acknowledge the crisis engulfing energy supply in South Australia, unlike the delusional Labor Party on the other side of the House here and in South Australia. It is really quite remarkable.

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Defence Industry will resume his seat for a second. I have warned members about interjecting. The Minister for the Environment and Energy interjects particularly loudly, as he did yesterday. I cannot hear the minister answering the question when he is interjecting in some exchange across the chamber, probably with the member for Shortland, I suspect. It will cease or they will continue their conversation outside the chamber. I am being very clear about that.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is remarkable to me that the opposition cannot acknowledge the truth about the crisis engulfing the South Australian energy supply. They described it as 'a hiccup' in the case of the member for Port Adelaide and as 'an experiment' in the case of the South Australian Premier. But the energy supply crisis in South Australia is hurting real people and real businesses. Last Thursday I talked about the effect at Osborne South and North of the failure to be able to guarantee power and the fact that the Australian taxpayer is going to have to spend $20 million to supply power to build submarines and ships at Osborne South and Osborne North; so the Australian taxpayer is being impacted. Real businesses are desperately worried about their businesses and about their employees.

Let me give you a couple of examples. Vili Milisits is very famous in South Australia and would be very well known to the member for Adelaide and others in this place as Vili from Vili's pies and cakes. He has been in business for decades, he has been an exporter for decades and he employs 300 people in Adelaide. He bought his own generator to supply diesel-generated power for Vili's pies and cakes. He said last week, 'I don't believe in anything anymore. We've got to be self-sufficient. I am an international business. I cannot have no power.'

Haigh's Chocolates is another very famous South Australian business. It is still run by Alister Haigh and his family, who visited us here in Canberra yesterday, and they employ 500 South Australians. He said, 'We are seriously looking at putting in a generator, which is quite ironic because it will be diesel-powered, so when the wind generation stops we will be firing up dirty diesel generators to give us power.' He gets it, and Vili Milisits gets it. A man called John Konstandopoulos from Apex Steel Supplies, who was also here yesterday, said: 'We had plans to put in new machinery. Those plans have been put on hold.' He employs 100 people. These are real businesses employing real people who cannot make investment decisions in South Australia because our electricity prices are too high and the supply is not reliable.

If the Labor Party will not listen to the government, will not listen to AEMO and will not listen to the experts, will they please listen to the businesses that are hurting in my great state, because we need all the help we can get in South Australia. We do not need to be saddled with high electricity prices and unreliable power because of Labor's ideological obsessions. (Time expired)