It is disappointing that Mr Green is once again deliberately trying to frighten people just to grab a headline.
As the Government has consistently made clear, this is a very serious and challenging situation but it is one that can and is being managed through careful and prudent decision making. The Government will continue to do everything necessary to ensure energy security for Tasmania. We are also continuing to do everything possible to ensure that Tasmanians are being kept informed of material developments.
It might come as a surprise to Mr Green but most Tasmanian households and businesses are prudent with their energy use. And of course the Government would encourage people to continue to do so. But the advice we continue to receive is that there is no need for people to do anything more that what is prudent and sensible.
I note that Mr Green has said that we “can’t afford to be running dirty and expensive diesel generators”. The advice we have received from the experts is that it is prudent for us to be planning temporary generation of this kind in order to ensure that we can respond to any further adverse developments. I would take the experts view over Mr Green's every day of the week.
We remain in close contact with Basslink and it is the Government's expectation that they will provide an update on repair progress tomorrow. We will have more to say at that time.
Despite Mr Green's preference for rock throwing at this difficult time, we will not be distracted. We will continue to respond calmly and methodically and continue to ensure that everything necessary is being done to get through this difficult situation.