Can’t Explain by Oze

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$2 billion

content/entries/two-billion.md

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title: "$2 billion" claim: "The Federal Government has announced a $2 billion intervention in Australia's electricity supply debate, by expanding the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme." caption: "The first number was a thought. The mountain kept the invoice." status: featured example: false published: 2026-08-15T17:00:00+10:00 person: Malcolm Turnbull claimType: no-evidence-required year: 2017 tags: [turnbull, snowy, bowen, energy, "2017"] source: url: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/snowy-hydro-scheme-funding-boost-to-secure-electricity-supply/8358502 date: "2017-03-16" publisher: ABC News title: "Snowy Hydro scheme boost to secure electricity supply on east coast: Government" quote: "The Federal Government has announced a $2 billion intervention in Australia's electricity supply debate" evidence: path: 2017/two-billion/source.md kind: note captured: "2026-08-14"

Malcolm Turnbull, 16 March 2017. ABC: a “$2 billion intervention.” Josh Frydenberg, same day: it would “run into the billions of dollars.” The precise billions arrived later.

This card files that first number. It does not file “never build pumped hydro.”

What did have a receipt:

  • Nine months later the feasibility study printed $3.8–$4.5 billion. Paul Broad: “It’s expensive, but it stacks up economically.” Also: “It won’t be a cost to taxpayers, we will be paying for this out of the balance sheet of Snowy Hydro.” The Commonwealth then bought the whole company.
  • August 2023 reset: $12 billion. ANAO, June 2026: $11.1 billion already spent at 31 March 2026, 73 per cent complete. October 2025, Snowy told the auditor expenditure was “expected to exceed the approved project cost of $12 billion.” Extra government support “expected” by the end of FY26. HumeLink, the wire that connects it, is another tab — about $5 billion, on NSW consumers.
  • ABC, June 2026: on the $12 billion line, about $3 million a day since the announcement. The first number was $2 billion.

Grammar: $2 billion, intervention. Logic: a feasibility band is not a press release. Rhetoric: stacks up, not a cost to taxpayers.