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The Federal Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey has said in a speech to Parliament that by the repeated refusal to answer any questions about the Solar Power Station for Coober Pedy, the Minister for the Environment Peter Garret has virtually confirmed his promise was just so much hot air.
Mr Ramsey recently spoke in Parliament on this undelivered promise and said “The Federal Labor Government is very fond strutting the stage with big announcements but has been found wanting on delivery”.
The following is a transcript of his speech.
“On Feburary 19th 2008 the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, jointly with the South Australian Premier, Mike Rann took no less an opportunity than the 3rd International Solar Cities Congress, in Adelaide to announce the building of a $7.1 million solar power station for Coober Pedy”.
To quote Minister Garrett “This is a groundbreaking solar project – a spectacular example of the Rudd Labor Government’s commitment to a clean energy future”
“There will be 26 dishes, each one 14 metres high and tracking the arc of the sun – an Australian design, delivering the nation’s most efficient solar power station.
“When it is completed at the end of 2009, it will generate about 1860 megawatt hours a year – 13 per cent of Coober Pedy’s total electricity requirements.
“You can imagine how excited the locals were. It all made sense, because if solar power makes sense anywhere it would be in the middle of the desert, where the locally generated power costs 80c a kilowatt hour. Really if this plant does not make economic sense in Coober Pedy it probably would not work anywhere.
“The power plant is due to be up and running by the end of the year but it has not even started and I believe it has been scrapped. On August 11th I placed a question on notice to the Minister which he has not replied to within the required time and so on 26th October I raised the matter with the Speaker of the House and he committed to writing to the minister requesting he reply to my question.
“I still have no reply. It appears it is too embarrassing for him to admit that his over-blown rhetoric is just so much hot air and spin”.
“At the very least the Minister should be honest with the community and say the project has fallen over if that is the case”, Mr Ramsey said.
Media inquiries;
Rowan Ramsey MP
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