John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The people listening on the public radio here say, 'Let's get serious with this debate.' I remember as a little fellow back in the 1950s—long before you were born, Senator Dastyari—and when we lived on the farm in South Australia, where my great-great-grandfather settled. We had the 32-volt system. We had a little windmill and the batteries alongside the house, and the old Coopers motor—the same motor we used on the shearing plants for many years—to start up when the wind was not blowing. It appears that since then things have only get worse in South Australia with the renewable energy target. This is what I find so frustrating. We used to rib our friends in South Australia when we left South Australia in 1979 to move to New South Wales. We used to say that there is a sign at Cockburn—Cockburn is little place on the border of South Australia and New South Wales—that says, 'The last one out of South Australia, please turn off the lights.' The sign has been pulled down now because the lights go off automatically!