Question regarding guaranteeing the objectives of electricity system investment. Minister avoids guaranteeing due to external factors, defends government's actions, and criticizes the previous government's inaction on the same issue.

AnsweredQoN 308Legislative Assembly
Asked
3 June 2004
Portfolio
Energy

QuestionView source ↗

As a supplementary question, given the big investment, will the minister guarantee that those objectives will be met? Mr E.S. RIPPER

AnswerView source ↗

The Government’s aim is to significantly improve the reliability of the electricity system and it is spending the required amount of money to achieve that objective. However, because the technology is vulnerable to fires and storms, I will not mislead the public by giving that guarantee when it is not possible to give it. The Government will do its best. This Government is doing more to improve the reliability of the electricity system than did the former Government in which the current Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Energy. An examination of the reliability statistics for 2003 show that they are about the same as they were in 1999-2000, which is when the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Energy. Did he take any action? No. This Government has spent a significant amount of extra money on Western Power and on the network to improve the reliability of the system, which people in the country deserve to have. The SPEAKER: Before we move on to the next question and to avoid any confusion in the House - clearly some members were not in the Chamber earlier - I repeat that the member for Avon is to be known as the Leader of the National Party and the member for Mitchell is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. To call those members by anything other than those titles is unparliamentary. I suggest that their titles be used correctly.
Mr E.S. RIPPER replied: The Government’s aim is to significantly improve the reliability of the electricity system and it is spending the required amount of money to achieve that objective. However, because the technology is vulnerable to fires and storms, I will not mislead the public by giving that guarantee when it is not possible to give it. The Government will do its best. This Government is doing more to improve the reliability of the electricity system than did the former Government in which the current Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Energy. An examination of the reliability statistics for 2003 show that they are about the same as they were in 1999-2000, which is when the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Energy. Did he take any action? No. This Government has spent a significant amount of extra money on Western Power and on the network to improve the reliability of the system, which people in the country deserve to have. The SPEAKER: Before we move on to the next question and to avoid any confusion in the House - clearly some members were not in the Chamber earlier - I repeat that the member for Avon is to be known as the Leader of the National Party and the member for Mitchell is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. To call those members by anything other than those titles is unparliamentary. I suggest that their titles be used correctly.
The Government’s aim is to significantly improve the reliability of the electricity system and it is spending the required amount of money to achieve that objective. However, because the technology is vulnerable to fires and storms, I will not mislead the public by giving that guarantee when it is not possible to give it. The Government will do its best. This Government is doing more to improve the reliability of the electricity system than did the former Government in which the current Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Energy. An examination of the reliability statistics for 2003 show that they are about the same as they were in 1999-2000, which is when the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Energy. Did he take any action? No. This Government has spent a significant amount of extra money on Western Power and on the network to improve the reliability of the system, which people in the country deserve to have. The SPEAKER: Before we move on to the next question and to avoid any confusion in the House - clearly some members were not in the Chamber earlier - I repeat that the member for Avon is to be known as the Leader of the National Party and the member for Mitchell is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. To call those members by anything other than those titles is unparliamentary. I suggest that their titles be used correctly.
The SPEAKER: Before we move on to the next question and to avoid any confusion in the House - clearly some members were not in the Chamber earlier - I repeat that the member for Avon is to be known as the Leader of the National Party and the member for Mitchell is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. To call those members by anything other than those titles is unparliamentary. I suggest that their titles be used correctly.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more