❓ Opposition questions the government's motives for extending the life of a coal-fired power generator, suggesting it's purely for political gain to avoid power outages before the next election. The Minister defends the decision as providing AEMO with necessary tools for grid stability.
AnsweredQoN 533Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ENERGY — SUPPLY
533. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Energy:
I have a supplementary question. Is
the extension for the coal-fired power generator simply to get the government
through to the next election without brownouts or blackouts?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order please, members! Before I give the
minister the call, members may remember that question time took a very long
time yesterday. I have often made the point that I like brief supplementary
questions to the point. I have no criticism of the member asking the question,
nor do I have any criticism of you, minister, but I ask that ministers in their
supplementary response make them as brief as possible.
533. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Energy:
I have a supplementary question. Is
the extension for the coal-fired power generator simply to get the government
through to the next election without brownouts or blackouts?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order please, members! Before I give the
minister the call, members may remember that question time took a very long
time yesterday. I have often made the point that I like brief supplementary
questions to the point. I have no criticism of the member asking the question,
nor do I have any criticism of you, minister, but I ask that ministers in their
supplementary response make them as brief as possible.
AnswerView source ↗
Certainly. Again, the member for
Vasse needs to start to listen to the answer. We are responding to the request from the Australian Energy Market Operator to give
it another tool. It has the capacity market, the non-co-optimised essential system services market and the supplementary capacity market. On top
of that, we are giving the Australian Energy Market Operator another tool;
namely, it will be able to recall the Muja C6 unit for that summer. We do not
expect to have the station used at all over that summer, but why would we not
give the extra tool to the Australian Energy Market Operator for that summer?
It is only logical.
In
conclusion, I remind the member that the Liberal Party said that we would run
out electricity last summer, and it said
that we would run out of electricity in the middle of the year. It has been
saying it every year the government has been in power. It has never been
right, so why would anybody think the Leader of the Liberal Party is right
today?
Vasse needs to start to listen to the answer. We are responding to the request from the Australian Energy Market Operator to give
it another tool. It has the capacity market, the non-co-optimised essential system services market and the supplementary capacity market. On top
of that, we are giving the Australian Energy Market Operator another tool;
namely, it will be able to recall the Muja C6 unit for that summer. We do not
expect to have the station used at all over that summer, but why would we not
give the extra tool to the Australian Energy Market Operator for that summer?
It is only logical.
In
conclusion, I remind the member that the Liberal Party said that we would run
out electricity last summer, and it said
that we would run out of electricity in the middle of the year. It has been
saying it every year the government has been in power. It has never been
right, so why would anybody think the Leader of the Liberal Party is right
today?
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