Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill have clashed during a bizarre press conference that descended into a slanging match over energy policy.
The Federal Government has been relentlessly attacking South Australia’s approach to energy and its over-reliance on renewable sources, since last year’s state-wide black out.
Mr Weatherill this week announced a half-a-billion dollar plan to shore up the state’s fragile power supply, which was dismissed as a “$550 million admission of failure” by Mr Frydenberg, who accused the state of trying to “go it alone”.
In Adelaide to launch a federally funded “virtual power plant”, Mr Frydenberg found himself seated awkwardly between Mr Weatherill and South Australia’s Treasurer, Tom Koutsantonis, and then conducting a joint press conference with the Premier.
Mr Frydenberg laughed when asked if “it was all a bit awkward”, but Mr Weatherill told reporters “it’s about to be” before laying into the Federal Government.
GIF: The moment Jay Weatherill decides to take the press conference off the rails.
The Premier said it was “galling” to be standing beside Mr Frydenberg after he and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had spent the past six months “bagging South Australia at every step of the way”.
