❓ A parliamentary question regarding government assistance to Apache Energy after a gas plant explosion and the feasibility of a new LNG receiving terminal. The Premier dismisses financial aid to Apache and questions the economic viability of an LNG terminal.
AnsweredQoN 328Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
APACHE ENERGY GAS PLANT EXPLOSION — GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE, AND NEW RECEIVING TERMINAL
Given that the gas crisis is now a major economic threat to both Western Australia and the nation, I ask — (1) Can the Premier ensure the Western Australian public that he has given Apache Energy the state’s financial backing to source and deliver specialised equipment and parts from around the world as quickly as possible? (2) Why has the Premier dismissed the idea of developing a small liquefied natural gas receiving terminal in the south of the state to enable LNG tankers to bring in supplies by sea and to lessen the state’s high-risk reliance on the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
Given that the gas crisis is now a major economic threat to both Western Australia and the nation, I ask — (1) Can the Premier ensure the Western Australian public that he has given Apache Energy the state’s financial backing to source and deliver specialised equipment and parts from around the world as quickly as possible? (2) Why has the Premier dismissed the idea of developing a small liquefied natural gas receiving terminal in the south of the state to enable LNG tankers to bring in supplies by sea and to lessen the state’s high-risk reliance on the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
(1) Can the Premier ensure the Western Australian public that he has given Apache Energy the state’s financial backing to source and deliver specialised equipment and parts from around the world as quickly as possible? (2) Why has the Premier dismissed the idea of developing a small liquefied natural gas receiving terminal in the south of the state to enable LNG tankers to bring in supplies by sea and to lessen the state’s high-risk reliance on the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
(2) Why has the Premier dismissed the idea of developing a small liquefied natural gas receiving terminal in the south of the state to enable LNG tankers to bring in supplies by sea and to lessen the state’s high-risk reliance on the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
(1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
(1) Can the Premier ensure the Western Australian public that he has given Apache Energy the state’s financial backing to source and deliver specialised equipment and parts from around the world as quickly as possible? (2) Why has the Premier dismissed the idea of developing a small liquefied natural gas receiving terminal in the south of the state to enable LNG tankers to bring in supplies by sea and to lessen the state’s high-risk reliance on the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
(2) Why has the Premier dismissed the idea of developing a small liquefied natural gas receiving terminal in the south of the state to enable LNG tankers to bring in supplies by sea and to lessen the state’s high-risk reliance on the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
I thank the member for the question. (1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
(1)-(2) In relation to Apache Energy, it has neither sought nor been given state financial support to access parts. Apache is a very wealthy organisation and it is quite capable of paying for its own repairs and parts and it has a profound commercial interest in making sure that the work is done expeditiously. Heaven protect us if we are going to have some sort of alternative state government that goes up to these giant multinational oil or gas companies and says, “By the way, we will pay to repair the damage.” Please, where are we in Western Australia that we have this sort of idea running around? Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr B.J. Grylls : Are you sure it is doing the job? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have had a very recent discussion with Tim Wall from Apache and, yes, the company is working fastidiously to try to get itself back into operation ASAP. It has huge financial ramifications hanging over its head the longer it stays out of production. We are not living in the socialist republic of Corrigin or Merredin and the state needs to take over industry and pay for it to get up and running again. In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
In relation to the small, albeit undefined, LNG facility, there are very small LNG facilities in five Western Australian communities in the north west. They are a brilliant breakthrough in delivering more reliable, cleaner energy to some of our remote communities, serviced by LNG from the North West Shelf. The size of an LNG plant required to take over an emergency situation in the south west interconnected system would be somewhat larger and more expensive. The concept of having such a facility on standby in case of such an occurrence as this is not one that any financially responsible—harking back to the comments just made by the Treasurer—state government would consider. Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr T. Buswell : How much did it cost Alcoa to ramp back production? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Whatever it was, it was Alcoa’s cost. It is an opportunity available to commercial interests if they want it. I doubt very much whether there would be any takers. I certainly doubt that Western Australian taxpayers, once they had seen the financial implications, would consider it to be money well spent if we were to build not a small but a significant sized LNG facility in case we get into another situation such as we are in now; that is, short of gas, albeit temporarily. Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr T. Buswell : Has there been an analysis of that option? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I do not think the option deserves analysis. Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr T. Buswell : What is the cost you would weigh the benefit on? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : As the opposition has done with its 20 per cent pay offer to teachers, it can come up with the size of the plant it thinks would be required to service the south west interconnected system in case of an emergency. I am assuming that it would be somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The opposition can then go out and spruik to the Western Australian community that it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build a piece of equipment that would be used very infrequently. The opposition should do that because then we could do the analysis of which schools will not get money, what it might mean to the 20 per cent pay offer to teachers and which hospitals might not get money. Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr B.J. Grylls : I am not making it up. It is a serious question. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I have answered it. Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
Instead, we have a government following the directions of previous governments, to their credit, trying to diversify the energy sources in the Western Australian economic landscape so that with occurrences like that which has just occurred, yes, there will be an impact but we are able to manage that impact. If we get into absolutely dire circumstances, we can invoke emergency powers. We are not at that situation yet. There has not been the necessity thus far to plunge any particular communities or suburbs into blackouts. We are managing the situation, difficult though it is, very well, I think. We are able to do that only because we are proceeding maturely, responsibly, logically and with the full cooperation of 99 per cent of the community.
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