❓ Mr Rundle questions the Minister for Energy about the urgency of addressing gas supply concerns for 400 customers in Esperance, given conflicting statements regarding a visit to the community. The Minister clarifies his commitment and explains the government's limited role due to privatisation.
AnsweredQoN 702Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
GAS
SUPPLY — ESPERANCE
702. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Energy:
I have a supplementary
question. Minister, I am just here on behalf of the 400 domestic and business
customers who will not have that supply. Noting that the minister told
ABC Esperance last week that he will not have time to visit the community, yet
he committed to do this with me in Parliament last week, is this a priority?
The SPEAKER : Member, a supplementary question has to
be a simple question, not ''If this, then that and noting something
else.'' Can you just ask a very simple question?
Mr D.A. Templeman interjected.
Mr P.J. RUNDLE : Is this a priority
for the government, given the minister's statements last week?
The SPEAKER : I point out to
the Minister for Culture and the Arts that his ventriloquism skills are not
what he thinks they are!
SUPPLY — ESPERANCE
702. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Energy:
I have a supplementary
question. Minister, I am just here on behalf of the 400 domestic and business
customers who will not have that supply. Noting that the minister told
ABC Esperance last week that he will not have time to visit the community, yet
he committed to do this with me in Parliament last week, is this a priority?
The SPEAKER : Member, a supplementary question has to
be a simple question, not ''If this, then that and noting something
else.'' Can you just ask a very simple question?
Mr D.A. Templeman interjected.
Mr P.J. RUNDLE : Is this a priority
for the government, given the minister's statements last week?
The SPEAKER : I point out to
the Minister for Culture and the Arts that his ventriloquism skills are not
what he thinks they are!
AnswerView source ↗
In respect of the visit to
Esperance, I committed to visiting Esperance and I did exactly the same thing
on radio, because the member is not actually quoting what I said. I said it
will not be before Christmas and that is true—it will not be before
Christmas. It is not that I do not want to visit Esperance before Christmas; it
is just that I am a very busy minister and I am already visiting other parts of
regional Western Australia in that period, and we are sitting. It is not that I
do not want to visit Esperance, I am simply not physically capable of getting
there. But that is okay, because the proposed date of the turn-off by ICG is
after that. It does not stop the planning work for those 400 people—350-odd
residential customers and a small number of business customers. ICG can
continue to supply them forever. The government of Western Australia wants ICG
to continue to supply those customers, because the government of Western Australia has never supplied gas to the residents
of Esperance. We have never been involved in it. We have never had any
contractual relationship to it. The only relationship we have to it is through
the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation
and Safety, the Economic Regulation Authority and Energy Policy WA . We
regulate the activity, but we do not do the activity. The reason we do not do
that is that the Liberal–National government
privatised the sale of gas and entered a moratorium—a ban—on
the sale of gas by Horizon and Synergy . We are looking for alternatives.
Let me make it clear: over half the residential customers are tenants of the
Minister for Housing. We understand the challenge here. If ICG had given us two
years' notice, instead of three months' notice, we could have
responded in a much more coordinated and sensible way.
Esperance, I committed to visiting Esperance and I did exactly the same thing
on radio, because the member is not actually quoting what I said. I said it
will not be before Christmas and that is true—it will not be before
Christmas. It is not that I do not want to visit Esperance before Christmas; it
is just that I am a very busy minister and I am already visiting other parts of
regional Western Australia in that period, and we are sitting. It is not that I
do not want to visit Esperance, I am simply not physically capable of getting
there. But that is okay, because the proposed date of the turn-off by ICG is
after that. It does not stop the planning work for those 400 people—350-odd
residential customers and a small number of business customers. ICG can
continue to supply them forever. The government of Western Australia wants ICG
to continue to supply those customers, because the government of Western Australia has never supplied gas to the residents
of Esperance. We have never been involved in it. We have never had any
contractual relationship to it. The only relationship we have to it is through
the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation
and Safety, the Economic Regulation Authority and Energy Policy WA . We
regulate the activity, but we do not do the activity. The reason we do not do
that is that the Liberal–National government
privatised the sale of gas and entered a moratorium—a ban—on
the sale of gas by Horizon and Synergy . We are looking for alternatives.
Let me make it clear: over half the residential customers are tenants of the
Minister for Housing. We understand the challenge here. If ICG had given us two
years' notice, instead of three months' notice, we could have
responded in a much more coordinated and sensible way.
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