South Australia blackout weather 'just a storm': Barnaby Joyce

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has dismissed last week's devastating South Australian weather as just a thunderstorm, saying 80,000 lightning strikes is "unremarkable".

Mr Joyce has taken issue with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's remarks that the storm - which caused a statewide blackout - was so serious it caused tens of thousands of strikes.

"When you actually peel back the facts it's unremarkable ... so what? That's called a storm," he told reporters in Adelaide on Friday, while linking the blackout to the state's reliance on renewable energy.