Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:25): I rise to support this motion by the member for Morphett. This motion reads:

That this house—

(a) notes that South Australian working families and small businesses are still enduring some of the highest power prices in the country under the Malinauskas Labor state government;

(b) notes that South Australia has the highest quarterly average wholesale cost of electricity in the nation in the third quarter of 2024, up 76 per cent year on year, according to the Australian Energy Regulator;

(c) notes that electricity prices for South Australian working families have risen by $798 per year under the Malinauskas state Labor government, according to the Essential Services Commission of South Australia;

(d) acknowledges that these rises in energy prices have caused intense hardships for South Australian working families and small businesses and have increased the cost-of-living burden;

(e) condemns the Malinauskas Labor government for having their costly and experimental hydrogen power plant, which will not reduce power prices for South Australian working families and small businesses, as their only energy policy;

(f) condemns the Malinauskas Labor government for their continued inaction on energy, resulting in sky-high power prices for South Australian working families and small businesses in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis; and

(g) calls on the Malinauskas Labor government to develop an energy policy that will support South Australian working families and small businesses during this energy and cost-of-living crisis.

Listening to the member for Morphett before, I could not agree more with the words that he said. What we see in this state are some of the highest power prices in the country. It is forcing people to go out of business, it is forcing people to not be able to pay their power bills and it is really having an effect on the cost of living of South Australian families and businesses.

What we have seen in this state from the Labor Party over the years is a continual failure when it comes to power policy. We saw that when the coal plant got knocked down in Port Augusta years ago. The first orders to the contractors were, 'Take the gas axes and the angle grinders to the turbines. We don't want to see them going again,' so there was no coming back. Then we had the total power blackout on 28 September 2016. The whole state went out under the Labor Party—the whole state. It had never been seen before in this state. It was absolutely outrageous.

Then we see this constant drive for heavily subsidised renewable power. The thing is, what Labor have forgotten is you need to have base load to keep that power going. Coal has been demonised, so those plants have shut down or are shutting down across the country. Gas is a vital transition fuel as we move forward. We will need gas for many decades to come.

This is where we are seeing the flaws with this so-called hydrogen power plan for the Upper Spencer Gulf. It simply will not work. Why have I not had any university professor, any engineer, anyone from the mining industry organisations tell me that it will work? Why has Woodside pulled out? Why have Twiggy Forrest and Fortescue pulled out of hydrogen and, most recently, as of this last week, the Queensland government? Because it simply does not work at this scale. It simply does not work.

The whole premise of this so-called green power is based on tens of thousands of solar panels that have not been installed and thousands of wind turbines that have not been installed. The thing is—and this is where the rubber hits the road—there is power loss from generating green power to put in the so-called hydrogen storage. You lose 80 per cent on the transfer, so you only end up with 20 per cent of the power out the other end.

Then we see the real facts of how these turbines are going to work: they are going to be powered by gas for at least four hours a day, or that is the four hours we know about. Where is the gas coming from? There is nothing in the pipeline at Whyalla, so the gas has to be trucked in by B-double diesel trucks. It just does not stack up.

The costs are blowing way out of proportion. It is going to be at least $1 billion, and climbing. We see the Labor Party and the Malinauskas Labor government and their Minister for Energy and Mining trying to justify the cost and keep it to the budgeted cost of $593 million by taking storage out of the system and by taking other parts out of the contract to make this hydrogen plan work. It is supposed to be built this year, but I do not even know if there is a peg in the ground yet.

The sad thing is that governments do not have money to pay for these failed experiments; it is taxpayers, the good taxpayers of South Australia, who will pay for this so-called green dream. Well, it is going to literally turn into the biggest green nightmare in this state. In fact, it has already been said to me that this could be the next State Bank disaster for this state. It is just based on ideology, not based on the reality that the gas has to be trucked in with diesel trucks. I can foresee that gas will be the main generator here, so why not just put the gas turbines next to some gas pipes and make it work properly? Just do it properly. It is just ridiculous that the state is being put through this.

We see Tom Koutsantonis, the minister, trying to put the blame on Sanjeev Gupta. Sanjeev Gupta needs to get on and pay his bills. He needs to pay his contractors and he needs to pay the royalties that have backed up for many months—heading towards 12 months—for this state. No-one else would get let off. I can see what is coming. When this all falls over—and I believe it will, because they are already setting themselves up because they will not answer one straight question about whether the hydrogen power plant will be running in the next decade and when it will be generating this so-called clean energy—the Premier and Minister Koutsantonis will blame it on Sanjeev Gupta.

But then in another breath the minister says that Whyalla is too big to fail—and it is too big to fail. You cannot lay the blame on someone who is at risk of losing that business because of the so-called link between the hydrogen power plant and the steelworks. As the shadow minister, the member for Morphett, indicated there is barely a word in the whole policy document about linking it to the steelworks in South Australia.

The reality is, this is a debt bomb. It is a hydrogen debt bomb for this state. I just cannot believe the arrogance with which the government believe they are smarter than everyone else globally, as the shadow minister has indicated to the house, and everyone else across this country who has said, 'It's too expensive, it will not work or it just won't happen.' Woodside do not know, Fortescue and Twiggy Forrest do not know, the Queensland government do not know, and Origin do not know. Seriously? They do know and that is why they are pulling out.

This is too risky a project because it just will not work. The sooner the Minister for Energy and Mining takes his own advice and admits he is wrong, as he indicates to others—stand up, admit you are wrong and move on—the better it will be not just for Whyalla but for the whole of South Australia.

We can then get on with plans, like those of Peter Dutton and the federal Liberals, in moving ahead with nuclear energy. I would love to see that happen when Peter Dutton wins the next federal election. We need to have real base load supporting our renewable energy systems throughout this state so that we can just get on with life in a practical way and a meaningful way.