Mr HAASE (10:36 AM) —I rise this morning to bring to the attention of the House a breakthrough in petroleum exploration and hot rock, or geothermal, exploration. In the regional centre of Merredin in Western Australia the first attempt is being made to drill a three-kilometre-deep hole primarily through granite. In the past, drilling has gone down to approximately 20 metres, a minuscule depth in comparison to petroleum drilling these days. This attempt by Warren Strange of Globe Drill is to put down a three-kilometre hole, not in the interests or expectation of finding hot rock but to prove the capacity of a revolutionary design drill rig which is going to reduce by approximately two-thirds the cost of hot rock drilling. This three-kilometre-deep hole is additionally going to give us the first opportunity to analyse the geological strata of that particular area. In the first 300 metres achieved so far, incredible flows of potable water have been found. There are some problems, of course, with sealing off that incredible flow of water and that will be done progressively, as the hole progresses. But, along with the involvement of Karni Engineering, owned and run by Colin Crook in Merredin, this is revolutionary. The importance of it has been brought about by the fact that, right now, Merredin is going through a horrendous drought situation and crops have all but failed. This activity in Merredin will give another commercial string to the bow of activity in that area and is much required at this stage. When rainfall fails in these wheat belt areas, the whole economy contracts, and the more dimension you can have to that economy through diversity the more the likelihood of success and survival in that community.

Already one of the largest wind farms ever attempted in Western Australia is being installed in the area. It looks like being a revolutionary area in Western Australia for the development of alternative energy sources. So we give recognition to Globe Drill. We wish them luck in their venture to drill the three-kilometre hole, because a breakthrough in the cost of hot rock drilling will mean that the abundance of energy supply right across Australia in the deep granites will be revealed at a much, much lower cost.