Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I am not sure Senator Hanson-Young heard my previous answer. The government absolutely has a process in place here to act—if you support this government in ensuring we get the national market to work effectively rather than having Premier Weatherill or different states deciding they are going to unpick the national market. Premier Weatherill seems to forget that South Australia is still incredibly reliant for about one-quarter of its power on the interconnector coming in from Victoria and New South Wales bringing power across the border into South Australia. If we choose in SA to go it alone with our own market rules then the risk is that, when Victoria or New South Wales goes it alone with their market rules, we will find that the interconnector flows no more. We will have more blackouts, more brownouts, more statewide blackouts. Total chaos is what we want to avoid. We want to ensure we have a functioning market. We are working through that process with each of the states to make sure we get a comprehensive response that makes the market work in the future, unlike what Labor is proposing.