WESTERN POWER — OUTAGES — PAYMENTS
189. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Energy:
I refer to the changes to
compensation announced yesterday by the McGowan government after the release of
the Independent review of Christmas 2021 power outages. Does the
minister think this compensation package is sufficient, given that many
households lost much more than $120 as a consequence of the blackouts,
especially over the Christmas and new year period?
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON
replied:
I am very happy to answer the
question. I was very interested to participate in the debate on this topic
yesterday. I noted a couple of words spoken
by the shadow Minister for Energy. One of the sentences he said yesterday was —
I also recall the minister answering
a grievance or a question in this chamber �
He claimed that was about the
Roleystone outages in 2020. I have been through Hansard. No such
grievance or question occurred. I look
forward to the member correcting the record and apologising, because there is a
word for people who say things they
know not to be true; I know it is unparliamentary and I am not going to use it.
The member had an opportunity to apologise and correct the record. He
also said on the issue of outages —
Going back to May last year, we had
the unacceptable situation of 38 Homeswest units � being without power for four
days due to a pole collapsing.
He implied that the pole was a Western
Power asset and that it was somehow connected to the question of Western Power's reliability. The member
knew at the time he said those words that that was a privately owned pole
and had nothing to do with Western Power assets. The fact that he came in here
and claimed that was an example of Western Power failure shows the sort of
person he is.
Dr D.J. Honey: Go and read Hansard.
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON: I am. I look
forward to the member standing up and correcting the record, because he is obliged to tell the truth in this chamber and he
needs to start doing that. Every time you open your mouth, falsehoods
come out. That is the sort of man you are. You are prepared to come into this
chamber and say things you know not to be true.
Point of Order
Dr D.J.
HONEY: The minister is not answering the question that was asked at
all.
The
SPEAKER: There is no point of order. I understand the minister has
finished his answer in any event. If you would like to ask a supplementary, you
can.
Dr D.J. HONEY: He has not
finished his answer.
The SPEAKER: You can ask a supplementary
if you would like to. I am giving you that invitation.