Tunnel boring machines will fire up in two weeks’ time to start investigative drilling ahead of a major expansion to the Snowy Hydro Scheme, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters at the Snowy Hydro site in Cooma.
Mr Turnbull said the main generator chamber, designed to store renewable energy at peak production times, would be 200 metres long.
“That’s a very, very big hole, very deep under the ground,” he said.
The prime minister was pressed about the new wave of Liberal party infighting, with former prime minister Tony Abbott attacking cabinet minister Christopher Pyne over his same-sex marriage comments and saying he will stay around for "when" Turnbull's leadership falls apart.
"There is nothing more conservative than ensuring you have affordable and reliable electricity," the prime minister said.
He also accused the media of having a fixation on leadership politics, saying the Australian people were “not interested in the personalities among politicians."
Senior conservatives in the Coalition are pushing Mr Turnbull to reshuffle his cabinet and replace some moderate allies with members of the party’s conservative wing, according to the 'Australian Financial Review'.
Mr Turnbull hit back at his predecessor’s Tony Abbott's recent interventions on energy policy, referring to a recent speech in which the former leader criticised the government’s renewable energy target and calling for a freeze.
“The renewable energy target was recently renegotiated and legislated, in 2015, while Mr Abbott was prime minister,” Mr Turnbull said.
“The law has been passed, the law has been confirmed. There is certainty in the industry, investments are being made and what is needed to make renewables reliable is obviously storage,” he said.
“I am not into political slogans. I am into engineering and economics.”
Mr Turnbull also paid tribute to the original Snowy Hydro project, which was built with a heavy reliance on migrant labour in the wake of World War II.
“We are standing on the shoulders of the pioneers of Snowy Hydro,” he said.
The government announced the so-called 'Snowy 2.0' expansion in March this year as part of its response to national energy shortfalls. It is estimated to cost around $2 billion.
Labor leader Bill Shorten said the division between conservatives and moderates in the Liberal party was distracting the government from the issues that matter to voters.
"I'm not interested whether or not Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton and Chris Pyne are all fighting each other. I'm not interested in Malcolm Turnbull's internal war," Mr Shorten said.
"The Liberals can fight each other as much as they want. I'm going to fight for the working people of this country because that's what I'm paid to do, it's what I believe in."
-- With AAP
