SENATOR CAROL BROWN

SHADOW PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR FAMILIES

AND PAYMENTS
LABOR SENATOR FOR TASMANIA

SENATOR ANNE URQUHART

LABOR SENATOR FOR TASMANIA

SENATE INQUIRY TO EXAMINE TASMANIAS ENERGY SECURITY

A Senate inquiry being held in Hobart tomorrow will consider Tasmanias future energy
security.
The Select Committee into Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures will hear from key
witnesses about the energy crisis, the failure of the Basslink cable and the Minister for
Energys decision to sell the Tamar Valley Power Station.
Senator Brown said the Senate inquiry will hopefully give Tasmanians the truth about what is
happening because the Government has failed to be up front and honest.
Tasmania is in the middle of an unprecedented energy crisis, our dam levels are
dangerously low and the cost of diesel for the generators will run into millions of dollars,
Senator Brown said.

Unfortunately, Tasmanians are being kept in the dark because Minister Groom has not been
up front and told us what the real situation is and whether there will be black outs.
Importantly, we need to know how Tasmania's energy security can be secured into the
future.
The threat to jobs and investment at major industrials cannot begin to be

quantified.
Senator Urquhart said she would also be pursuing answers from the government about what
it has done to ensure the Granville Harbour Wind Farm gets off the ground.
It beggars belief that the Government is willing to spend quarter of the value of the entire
Granville Harbour Wind Farm in diesel generation bills each month, but cant progress a
power purchase agreement that would get the project over the line, Senator Urquhart said.
Minister Groom has been out in the media touting his support for the wind farm but hes
fundamentally failed to back it up with any meaningful action.

WEDNESDAY 13 APRIL 2016