Vincent Tarzia's State Liberals are today releasing their energy policy for 2026 - as well as Labor's energy policy from 2022.
The Liberals have so thoroughly copied their opponents' homework, their energy policy is practically a cover-version of the Malinauskas Labor Government's policy platform – and a complete repudiation of everything the Liberals wrought on South Australia during their era of error when they were last in government.
Having sold off state-owned generation, demonised gas and closed Torrens Island Power Station, the South Australian Liberal Party is now pledging to… purchase state-owned generation, encourage gas and keep Torrens Island Power Station open.
We look forward to their next policy revelations, including:
- a properly designed and costed Non-Stop South Road,
- a properly scoped Women's and Children's Hospital
- bringing our rail services back into public hands.
But Mr Tarzia will now have to explain to the residents of the south-east whether he intends to abandon the ban on fracking introduced by the former Liberal State Government, with the centrepiece of his new energy proposal "securing gas-fired electricity generation".
According to a report in The Advertiser, the Liberals "want to work with the private sector to encourage construction of new gas-fired generation, equivalent to 200mw, but, should this fail, will not rule out spending about $175m to $200m on a state-owned generator".
These are the same Liberals that only five years ago sold off two emergency power stations built by the former Labor Government to safeguard supply.
They also seem blissfully unaware that the Government is currently negotiating with the market for the local operation of four 50MW generators to help build capacity.
Besides selling off generation capacity, the Liberals' only energy policy in its last term of government was underwriting the construction of a giant extension cord to New South Wales, where residents pay higher power prices fuelled by dirty coal.
While this project remains years from completion, it did prompt the closure of AGL's gas-fired Torrens Island Power Station, with only intervention from the Malinauskas Labor Government ensuring the facility stayed open long enough to avoid a devastating generation shortfall.
Incredibly, Mr Tarzia is now talking himself up for writing to AGL to ask them to keep Torrens Island open until 2028, when the Liberals' interconnector is now hoped to come online.
Unfortunately for Mr Tarzia and the Liberals, AGL has already announced an in-principle agreement with the Malinauskas Labor Government to keep Torrens Island open until 2028, as noted by AEMO last week.
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
It seems the Liberals' vision for energy is to copy their opponent's homework.
I am pleased that the Liberals are finally embracing gas as a firming tool to underpin energy supply, and acknowledging their failures in selling off generation, demonising gas and putting all their eggs in a coal-fired basket case.
We now look forward to their next policy revelations: a properly designed and costed Non-Stop South Road, a properly scoped Women's and Children's Hospital and bringing our rail services back into public hands.
