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

The Turnbull government wants to see energy that is affordable and reliable and, of course, also helps to meet our national emissions reduction commitments that we have given at a global level. Our policies are working towards that. That includes directing more of the funds within areas such as the CEFC and ARENA to support investment in storage capabilities—like the Snowy Hydro scheme and the Cultana project on the Eyre Peninsula or the western parts of South Australia, near Whyalla—and in projects that can provide stability into the grid and can make the heightened levels of renewable energy that have already been built in a state like South Australia work for us rather than against us in terms of supply into the market, the affordability factor and reliability. We will be making sure that, wherever possible, investment goes towards those principles of reliability and affordability while supporting meeting those targets, but it certainly does not undermine, as it has in the past— (Time expired)