Treasury advice crucial to Tasmania’s energy crisis
Peter Gutwein must provide the advice he received to the inquiry
Treasury warned that the energy crisis was foreseeable
Labor Leader Bryan Green used his appearance at today’s energy inquiry hearing to table advice from Treasury which warned of the energy crisis.
“The committee was set up to get to the bottom of Tasmania’s energy crisis,” Mr Green said.
“The advice I received from Treasury in 2013 around the Tamar Valley Power Station is crucial because it proves the energy crisis was foreseeable.”
Page 17 of the advice states: “It would be easy to visualise an event, such as a prolonged failure of Basslink at a time when storages are low.”
“If the Government ignored the same advice and pushed ahead with the sale of the power station, then Matthew Groom and Peter Gutwein must take responsibility for Tasmania’s energy crisis,” Mr Green said.
“In 2013 Treasury explicitly told the former government not to sell the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine. The Treasurer must provide the advice he received to the committee when he next appears.
“If that advice is not provided to the committee, the Treasurer and Minister clearly have something to hide.
“And the Government must explain why its representative on the committee, Joan Rylah, was again questioning the wisdom of purchasing the Tamar Valley Power Station.
“After everything the state has been through, are the Liberals honestly suggesting Tasmania does not need an energy security insurance policy?
“The Liberals have clearly learnt nothing from the energy crisis.”
Bryan Green MP Labor Leader
