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

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. Will the minister outline to the House why the unreliable and expensive electricity is a threat to the success of the defence industry as well as other industries in South Australia, like Spring Gully Foods?

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

I thank the member for Grey for his question. I know that he, like me and all South Australians, is deeply concerned about the effect of Labor's obsession with renewable energy at the expense of all other kinds of power—the effect of that on the economy in South Australia and the very real risk that that obsession has for the rest of the nation should the state based renewable energy targets spread their tentacles across Australia in the way that they have in South Australia. It is so damaging to the jobs, the investment and the economy of a state that needs everything going for it and not hurdles put in its path. We have seen the impact already of Labor's obsession with renewable energy rather than an all-of-the-above approach to power generation in the Defence portfolio, because the Defence department will need to spend $20 million building a diesel power generation capacity at Osborne to do the naval shipbuilding plan that we have put in place: nine future frigates, 12 offshore patrol vessels, 12 submarines. This is an economy-changing, generational-changing commitment to the South Australian economy that the South Australian Labor Party have put at risk because of their approach to energy pricing, causing the prices in South Australia to be the highest in the country and the reliability to be the worst in the country. So we are putting $20 million of taxpayers' money into helping to fix that problem.

But it is not just defence industry that is suffering in South Australia because of Labor and their policies towards energy. There are businesses like Spring Gully, which would be very well known to the South Australians in this House. Four years ago, Spring Gully, which makes foods, jams and preservatives, and bottles other people's as well, went into voluntary administration because they were going out of business. The South Australian community got behind Spring Gully because it is a family owned business—I think it is in its fourth generation in terms of a family owned business—and saved that business for the future, and yet Spring Gully is facing bleak times again because of the energy prices and the unreliability in the South Australian economy of power. Kevin Webb, who is well known to many people, says in The Australian today that the prices in the last 12 months have gone from $85,000 to $150,000 a year for power generation for Spring Gully Foods. He says there was little margin for wearing higher power costs and 'it’s not going to get any better'. He said:

With Port Augusta closing down last year, the reliability is just not there and with renewables the model isn’t working.

So it is time for the Labor Party to take their blinkers off and support the common sense, all-of-the-above approach of the Turnbull government.