Media release from the Shadow Minister for Renewables and Energy, Joshua Burgoyne:
Shadow Minister for Renewables and Energy, Joshua Burgoyne said that this morning’s estimates session regarding Power and Water should be a huge concern to Territorians.
Mr Burgoyne said, “The Chair of Power and Water said he couldn’t be certain that Territorians would not experience black outs, due to our gas shortage.
“The estimates process is meant to be a time when Territorians can get a fair and accurate assessment of the state of the Territory, and for a jurisdiction that’s economy is built on gas, questions on our energy security were left unanswered.”
“As a result of the ongoing disputes with Eni Energy, the Territory is having to pay more to top up our supply – this is simply outrageous.
“What this means is that we have no idea how much we are paying for our gas up front in the former arrangement with Eni despite this not being delivered, or how much we are paying to other providers under emergency provisions to top up our supply.
“Continuing on Labor’s theme of the last fortnight, transparency was shut down, quoting ongoing legal matters and commercial in confidence matters when we asked for these important details.
“It was revealed that Power and Water’s net debt is currently a staggering $1.185 billion.
“How long before our gas shortage, caused by Labor’s mismanagement, means the lights go out?
“Last year, gas supply risk was rated as ‘extreme’ and today there was no assurances that this risk was being managed.
“Territorians should understand that this risk has been amplified by Labor dragging their feet on the Beetaloo Basin. The Beetaloo Basin could power our entire nation for 200 years, and today again, no answers could be provided on the timeline for this project.
“Labor have no clear completion date for Beetaloo to come online, simply hoping it does sooner rather than later isn’t going to keep the lights on,” said Mr Burgoyne.
