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

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Will the minister update the House on the action the government is taking to improve energy affordability and reliability so that local South Australian businesses in my electorate, like the Portside Tavern in Port Pirie, can grow and create more jobs?

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

I thank the member for Grey for his question. I know that he, like the members from South Australia on this side of the House—the member for Barker, the member for Boothby, the member for Sturt—are concerned about the rising cost of power bills in South Australia. Indeed, the member for Grey has some of the state's biggest employers in his electorate. He has Arrium, BHP and Nyrstar. But it's not just the big employers that are affected by the higher prices; it's also some of the medium sized employers, like the Portside Tavern in Port Pirie. They say that if their power prices were more reasonable they could employ two more people. That means two more bartenders. That means two more cleaners. That means two more chefs. The South Australian Labor Party is denying new jobs to the people of South Australia by the fact of their reckless energy policy.

That's why the Turnbull government has intervened in the gas market to ensure that we get more supply and get prices down. That's why we've taken steps, through the parliament, to pass a bill abolishing the limited merits review, which will stop the networks gaming the system. We've got a better deal from the retailers for millions of Australians. We're investing in storage, like the Cultana project in the Upper Spencer Gulf in the member's electorate and a 30-megawatt battery on the Yorke Peninsula. It's why we've accepted the advice of the Energy Security Board for the National Energy Guarantee, which will see an average household $300 a year better off than they would be under the Labor Party's emissions intensity scheme and wholesale prices down by some 23 per cent.

I'm asked whether I'm aware of any alternative approaches. We know that, in South Australia, Premier Weatherill conducted a big, dangerous experiment, and we know that, when the lights went out, the member for Port Adelaide called it 'a hiccup'. A hiccup! BHP lost over $100 million, and that was a hiccup according to the member for Port Adelaide. We know that South Australians, like those at the Portside Tavern, are paying on average 20 per cent more for their power than those in other states, and we know that, when it comes to the hot summer months, South Australia relies more than ever on that connection cord to coal-fired power from Victoria. We know that, just in case they need to keep the lights on, they've had to wheel in expensive, polluting diesel generators that use up to 80,000 litres an hour.

If that wasn't bad enough, the Leader of the Opposition, who vacates the chair when it gets a bit too tough for him, wants to take the South Australian experiment national, with a 50 per cent renewable energy target and a reckless 45 per cent emissions target. Don't look at what Labor says; look at what Labor does—higher power prices inspire Labor's name. (Time expired)