❓ Mr. Love questions the Minister for Energy regarding power supply failures in the Midwest, prompting a defensive response highlighting government investment and criticising misinformation.
AnsweredQoN 197Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ELECTRICITY SUPPLY — MIDWEST
197. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Energy:
I have a supplementary question.
Will the minister apologise to the people of the midwest for his systemic
failure to provide power?
Several members interjected.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Hello,
members!
Several members interjected.
The
DEPUTY SPEAKER : Members! There is
only one Minister for Energy in this place and he is about to respond.
197. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Energy:
I have a supplementary question.
Will the minister apologise to the people of the midwest for his systemic
failure to provide power?
Several members interjected.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Hello,
members!
Several members interjected.
The
DEPUTY SPEAKER : Members! There is
only one Minister for Energy in this place and he is about to respond.
AnswerView source ↗
I started my answer by doing that. I
also made the point that I understand that when people are without power in
modern society, it is never convenient. I will also make the point here that it
is important for members of Parliament to be honest with their own
constituents. Whether it is the member for Cottesloe who falsely claimed there
was an outage in his electorate caused by
Western Power when he knew it was a private power pole or whether it is any
other member blaming Western Power for problems that were not related to
the equipment or systems of Western Power, that is not good enough. The
community will get better supply only when Western Power does things like it
was doing on 14 and 17 March—trying to spend money on improving the
systems, like it has done for the people of that
area and is now doing even more in the area. It is interesting that the
microgrid in Kalbarri worked, and the people of Kalbarri were able to be
kept on. The battery in Mullewa performed properly and the people of Mullewa
were able to be supported. However, of course,
the battery in Mullewa is not a solution of itself. You still need generation .
Again, when commercial businesses go
to the wheatbelt and say, ''The solution to your power problems is to
put a battery in'', they are being
sold a false dawn. Again, we understand how difficult it is to supply
electricity to these parts of the state for particular reasons. Every
time I go and visit these communities, people say the same thing: ''We
have never had reliable power.'' I understand that. That is why we are
investing money in making the system better. We still have more work to do, but
the community knows, under the leadership of Mark McGowan, this government is
doing what it can to improve Western Australia.
also made the point that I understand that when people are without power in
modern society, it is never convenient. I will also make the point here that it
is important for members of Parliament to be honest with their own
constituents. Whether it is the member for Cottesloe who falsely claimed there
was an outage in his electorate caused by
Western Power when he knew it was a private power pole or whether it is any
other member blaming Western Power for problems that were not related to
the equipment or systems of Western Power, that is not good enough. The
community will get better supply only when Western Power does things like it
was doing on 14 and 17 March—trying to spend money on improving the
systems, like it has done for the people of that
area and is now doing even more in the area. It is interesting that the
microgrid in Kalbarri worked, and the people of Kalbarri were able to be
kept on. The battery in Mullewa performed properly and the people of Mullewa
were able to be supported. However, of course,
the battery in Mullewa is not a solution of itself. You still need generation .
Again, when commercial businesses go
to the wheatbelt and say, ''The solution to your power problems is to
put a battery in'', they are being
sold a false dawn. Again, we understand how difficult it is to supply
electricity to these parts of the state for particular reasons. Every
time I go and visit these communities, people say the same thing: ''We
have never had reliable power.'' I understand that. That is why we are
investing money in making the system better. We still have more work to do, but
the community knows, under the leadership of Mark McGowan, this government is
doing what it can to improve Western Australia.
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