Liberals vow to axe Labor’s flagship Office of Hydrogen Power

The Liberal’s are keeping the pressure on Labor calling for an end to the Premier’s “hydrogen fantasy”.

The $600,000-a-year chief overseeing Peter Malinauskas’s “hydrogen fantasy” would be sacked and his office axed under a Liberal government, Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia vows.

The Opposition is demanding the Premier scrap the Office of Hydrogen Power and its highly paid chief executive, Sam Crafter, after a government-owned Whyalla hydrogen plant was “deferred”.

Mr Tarzia argued taxpayers had already sunk $80m into “Labor’s failed hydrogen experiment” and an extra $23m was budgeted this year.

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia at the empty SA Hydrogen plant site in Whyalla. Picture: supplied

Mr Malinauskas on Thursday announced the $593m hydrogen power plan’s deferral, the scaling back of the Office of Hydrogen Power and the sell off of hydrogen-capable gas turbines now being made in the United States.

“South Australians have every right to expect results when the government spends $80m of their hard-earned money. Yet, instead of delivering, Labor has opted to part ways with their flagship energy policy,” Mr Tarzia said.

“Labor promised to deliver one of the world’s largest hydrogen power stations, claiming it would reduce electricity costs by eight per cent. Instead, power prices have soared under their watch, with no relief in sight for South Australian families and businesses.

“How can Labor now say that this hydrogen hoax will be realised at some unknown future date, while offering no cost or timeline for delivery and selling off key components of the plant?”

Liberal government accountability spokesman Ben Hood called on the government to “scrap” Mr Crafter, saying he was being paid $599,741 annually to work on a shelved project.

“If a chief executive in the private sector were hired to deliver a major project of this scale, only for it to be abruptly sidelined, they wouldn’t be kept around – they’d be moved on, it’s that simple,” Mr Hood said.

“If the government continues to employ a chief executive and fund an office for a failed project, it’s clear they’re putting their Labor mates ahead of the interests of hardworking South Australians.”

The Advertiser sought a response from Mr Crafter, who referred the inquiry to Energy and Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis’s office, which did not want to add comment.