Mr JOHN ROBERTSON: My question is directed to the Premier. Given that the Tamberlin inquiry made no recommendations about the State's electricity poles and wires, will the Premier now stand by his election commitment and rule out selling them?

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: I was fascinated that on the day on which the Tamberlin report was released—the day on which I indicated to the media that the Government would make a decision on the report and its recommendations by Christmas—the Leader of the Opposition pronounced airily on Channel 7, "I was, I am and I always will be opposed to electricity privatisation." I think I should remind the House that although the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Blacktown, came into this House on 26 March this year, he has been a member of Parliament for at least two years. I should put on the record that the Leader of the Opposition, as a member of the other House, was also a Minister in the former Government of the member for Heffron. I should also put on the public record the fact that the person who said, "I was, I am and I always will be opposed to electricity privatisation" was part of Kristina Keneally's sell-off of the State's electricity assets.

I will stand by the commitment I made Monday week ago: the Government will consider the Tamberlin report and will make a decision by Christmas. Unlike decisions made by those opposite in the dying hours of the former Parliament, a Parliament they shut down to avoid scrutiny of their asset sale, the decision we make will be one that is made in the public interest and one that seeks to secure the lowest possible energy prices in the future for families and small businesses. That is in stark contrast with what those opposite did in relation to the Cobbora coalmine deal or that other millstone around the neck of the Leader of the Opposition, the solar bonus scheme. That solar bonus scheme, which was meant to cost less than $400 million, will cost $1.75 billion.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: That solar bonus scheme, if action had not been taken, would have cost taxpayers more than $3 billion.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order.

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: I remind the public of a simple fact. Those opposite delayed the release of an Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal report on electricity until after the State election campaign.

Mr Michael Daley: Point of order: My point is taken under Standing Order 129. The question is simple: Does the Premier propose to go back on his election commitment or not? It is not about anything else.

The SPEAKER: Order! Standing Order 129 relates to relevance, and the member knows that. The Premier's response has been relevant. The member for Maroubra will resume his seat.

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: Those electricity price proposals that came through after the election from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal—in a report that was delayed until after the election for clear political reasons—show that almost 50 per cent of the power increases were as a result of Federal and State renewable energy schemes, the sorts of energy schemes that those opposite presided over—energy schemes like the disastrous solar bonus scheme that the Leader of the Opposition put together, without proper analysis, and that taxpayers will be paying billions of dollars for over the next 10 years.