GREENS TO REQUEST AUDITOR GENERAL INVESTIGATE BASSLINK


The Tasmanian Greens today announced that they will be writing to the Auditor General requesting that an investigation on Basslink and its impacts on Tasmanian power prices be conducted.
Greens Opposition Energy spokesperson Kim Booth MHA said that the call follows significant power crashes and outages since Basslink came on line and reports of Hydro paying the highest price in the nation at $10, 000 per megawatt hour.
“With revelations that Basslink is delivering the dearest power in the nation, and remaining questions about power crashes and outages, it is appropriate for the Auditor General to investigate the probity of this huge power public investment, especially whether it exposes the Tasmanian public through increased power prices or loss of Health or Education services,” Mr Booth said.
“Only an independent investigation will unravel the myriad of myths and spin that the government has been disgorging about the purpose and so-called benefit of Basslink.”
“Initially Basslink was supposed to be a profitable export opportunity, now we are told that it is meant to drought proof the state which is quite a different situation, with different associated risks.”
Mr Booth also said that the Hydro must also explain why the Bell Bay power plant has remained idle for months.
“The Bell Bay gas conversion was used to justify the gas rollout as the mechanism to drought proof the state, but now we discover that the power station sits idle.”