NATALIE BARR: But first at 7:30 am, the nation's power crisis has deepened with unprecedented steps taken to stop potential blackouts. The Australian Energy Market Operator has seized control of the entire national electricity market, which is made up of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania in an effort to keep the lights on. It is the first time we have seen the regulator take action at this level. The move forces power companies to generate supplies to meet demand, at least in the short term. Joining me now is Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Good morning to you. So this is the first time we've seen the regulator take this action on such a large scale. Will this ensure the lights remain on?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes. Good morning, Nat. It is the first time this has been done on such a big level and it really just shows what actions Governments are prepared to take and the regulators are prepared to take to ensure that consumers are put first. It is an intervention, really, to take control of the market because the market was not working, generators weren't bidding in and the market became a bit of a farce. So nobody was going to sit by and let that happen. This is an action which will last for as long as it needs to. Not a day more, not a day less. It'll be reviewed every single day. What's happening now is basically the operator is talking to every generator and telling them what is required to ensure that we can avoid blackouts. I'm confident we can avoid blackouts and to ensure we minimise the risk of load shedding, which is asking the big industrial users to reduce their usage at short notice. That's what everybody is working to avoid.

NATALIE BARR: Chris Bowen, we're in a situation where Australia's biggest city has its residents being told to use the dishwasher after 8:30, hospitals are being ordered to cut down on electricity. This is shocking. People are so frustrated and I don't think people really understand why.

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah. And I share that frustration, and it's a result of a lack of investment in new energy. What we've got, this is a situation being driven to explain what's happening largely by coal fire power stations having outages, not working, some of which are planned and scheduled, and factored in, others of which are just breakdowns. Now, breakdowns happen, but when you've got an ageing coal fire power fleet, it means it's going to happen more and more. And we haven't had the investment necessary in the new energy, in the renewable energy, in the storage of that energy, in batteries and other top forms of storage and in transmission to get renewable energy from where it's needed. That's exactly what our policies do. That's exactly what State Ministers, State and Territory Ministers agreed with me last week to develop a comprehensive national plan to do. That's what we need. In terms of people's energy use in New South Wales, to be clear Nat, nobody should turn off anything they need. If they need the heating to stay on, to stay warm, they should leave that on. What Mr. Kean has said and what I am saying, what I say is if there's something extra which you don't need to do at that time, like maybe put the dishwasher on another time or anything between six and eight, that's the key period tonight, then everybody can play a small role by doing that. But nobody should turn off anything that they need to do to stay warm or safe.

NATALIE BARR: But you can't transition to renewables, build wind farms, do all this stuff overnight. It's going to take years to do that stuff, isn't it? So what do we do in the meantime when all these coal-fired power stations are breaking down and needing maintenance?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, so you're right Nat. I mean, there's a long-term plan, a medium-term plan and a short-term plan. The long-term plan is to get all that investment. That's what our policies were at the election. That's what we’ve started implementing. But you don't do that overnight. That's right. In the short term, we're just working every single day with the regulators, with the States to keep the lights on, to avoid load shedding. That's basically what I'm doing, have been doing and that's what all the Ministers are doing. That's what the regulators are doing, working to ensure that wherever possible-- there's been all sorts of problems. We've had floods in coal mines. We've had to make sure that the railway tracks are free to the coal fire power stations to make sure the coal is getting through. All those sorts of things have happened and are happening. I know this is a very frustrating situation, but my message is consumers can have confidence. You saw yesterday what action AEMO the operator is prepared to take. It wasn't an easy decision, it's a big decision, but nobody's going to hesitate to do whatever is necessary. And if anybody's price gouging or anything, we're given the AER, the Australian Energy Regulator, the ACCC, the powers they wanted and needed and they've written to all the generators, reminding them of those powers, reminding them of the fines. So my message to consumers is as difficult and as frustrating as that situation is and I share that frustration probably more than anyone, given the almost a decade of a lack of energy policy which has led to this situation. Now what we are doing is working very cooperatively, State and Federal, Labor, Liberal, and Green, all the regulators and operators to get the data. This situation right under control.

NATALIE BARR: Okay, well, energy Minister, I don't think anyone wants your job today. Good luck. Thank you for joining us.

CHRIS BOWEN: No worries. Goodbye.

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