Tamar Valley Power Station - Use of Liquefied Natural Gas

Ms Armitage (Launceston) - Mr President, I rise to speak very briefly on a matter that has come to my attention today that I would like to bring to the notice of the House. It is to do with the Tamar Valley Power Station. You probably will have noticed in the media yesterday, as time runs out for a renegotiation of Tasmania's gas supply contract, the threat by the Energy minister that parties may be forced to arbitration if contract deadlines are not met. I have been advised today Hydro Tasmania may be considering using liquefied natural gas, LNG, in the Tamar Valley Power Station and the LNG would be supplied by ship as per the gas shipped overseas. I understand the reason behind this is it is cheaper and the power station only has to be run in extreme cases. If this is true, there is the possibility of both domestic and commercial natural gas users in Tasmania being negatively affected. I question whether this requires the construction of any new infrastructure, such as new tanks and, if so, what are the estimated costs of these upgrades?

I shall put it on the Notice Paper. Unfortunately it was too late to ask a question without notice and hence the reason I bring it to the notice of the House today. I will be asking the minister whether it is true and how he believes it will affect the domestic and commercial natural gas users, should the contract not be renegotiated.

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