Labor hiding real cost of botched energy plan for 6 months

The State Government is demanding the leader of the Labor Opposition Peter Malinauskas release the modelling and costings for his energy plan so taxpayers can know how much they’ll be slugged.

“It’s disgraceful that 6 months to the day since Peter Malinauskas announced his dodgy energy plan he continues to keep the modelling and costings hidden from the public,” said Minister for Energy and Mining Dan van Holst Pellekaan.

“The obvious question is what does Peter Malinauskas have to hide by not releasing his modelling and costing? The simple answer is a $500 million blackhole in their botched plan.

“Peter Malinauskas claims the total cost of his plan is $593 million – that’s untrue, and he knows it.

“They have still not answered the question of where they have budgeted for critical elements of their plan. Labor’s dodgy plan omits the capital cost of compression and liquefaction of hydrogen and underestimates the cost of its electrolyser, liquified storage and generator.”

“According to the world’s greatest experts on hydrogen, the total capital cost of Peter Malinauskas’ botched plan will be at least $1.06 billion - $500 million more than budgeted.

“Peter Malinauskas has to come clean and outline where he’ll cut frontline services to fill this black hole. Is he planning to close another hospital as he did when he was Health Minister?

Expert hydrogen costings are available online from the CSIRO and the Hydrogen Export Modelling Tool, which verified costings from the US Department of Energy and the CSIRO.

“All the best expert advice that Labor needed to cost its policy is publicly available online and from the smartest minds in Australia and the world,” said Minister van Holst Pellekaan.

“As Health Minister, Peter Malinauskas was happy to say that Nick Xenophon could have googled the Health Budget when he got it wrong by over 60% – but now his hydrogen costs are wrong by around 100%, he’s not so keen to follow his own advice.

“Peter Malinauskas is proposing to spend more than a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money on a white elephant power plant that by his own admission won’t save households a dollar on their bills.

“Labor has form when it comes to hiding the true costs of their energy failures. So, it’s no surprise that SA Labor has refused to release the full costings and the modelling for scrutiny.

“Labor claimed the nine dirty diesel generators it purchased before the last state election would cost taxpayers $300 million – the eventual cost was an outrageous $612 million.”