PEOPLE'S POWER RALLY

A rally outside Parliament House in Sydney on 26 February saw thousands of unionists and members of the community demonstrate loud and clear what they thought of the Iemma Government's plans to ram through the privatisation of the power industry.

The crowd was boosted by the presence of 15 Government MPs opposed to the sell off.

Skeleton staffing was maintained at all power locations to ensure there was no disruption to supply.

However, operators at Macquarie Generation, Delta Electricity and Eraring Energy, who are considered essential to operations donated to help pay for the buses that brought those members who were stopping work - and losing pay - to the rally.

Buses came from areas such as Bathurst, Lithgow, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong, Central Coast, Newcastle, Cessnock, Singleton and Maitland.

In a typically passionate address to the rally, Unions NSW Secretary, John Robertson called on the Government to think again about the privatisation decision and listen to the community's clear concerns.

He called on Morris Iemma to show courage on the issue and abandon the proposal.

The day before the rally, Unions NSW launched a TV commercial in relation to the sell off. It can be viewed on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/stoptheselloff.

Unions are fighting to keep power in public hands with key concerns of price increases for consumers, job loses and foreign ownership.

The Government however is pushing ahead - seemingly at all costs - and shunting aside community and even political concerns from within the ALP itself.

In fact, the clear message from the Government is that the proposals will proceed no matter what.

The Government want to sell off the retail operations of EnergyAustralia, Integral Energy and Country Energy and lease for 99 years the generators, Macquarie Generation, Delta Electricity and Eraring Energy.

Their latest weapon in the fight is the majority finding of the Consultative Reference Committee (CRC) headed by former Premier, Barrie Unsworth which not only supported the Government's existing proposal but took it one major step further and recommended a listing on the share market along the lines of the Telstra float.

Given the current volatility of the stock market this would run the risk of a reduced return to the State Government and shareholders.

The report additionally felt that the Government's proposals are in line with ALP policy.

Unions however have flatly rejected both the share market recommendation and the assertion that privatisation is politically sound.

Contrary to the impression given by some sections of the media, the three unionists on the Committee including PSA Assistant General Secretary, Steve Turner, issued a dissenting report that, one by one, tore apart the Committee's response to its twelve terms of reference and expertly argued for the industry to remain in public hands.

For Steve, it was something of a 'back to the future' exercise given that in 1997 he represented the union movement on the Hogg Committee which assessed a Government privatisation proposal and it was he who wrote the dissenting report and argued for continued public ownership.

At the time of writing, the Iemma Government was still considering its response to the Unsworth Committee's report which will be the centrepiece of debate at the crucial ALP State Conference in May.

Professor Bob Walker and Professor Nicholas Gruen made submissions to the CRC showing that the Government can afford to pay for new baseload electricity without affecting the state's "AAA" economic rating. Selling the assets on the other hand means the Government will lose valuable income.

There is nothing in the Owen Report, the CRC Report or any statement from the Government that guarantees that private industry will build new generators if the assets are sold.

More than three quarters of the community oppose the privatisation plan and the Government has been taking extraordinary steps to sell the proposal with full page advertisements in newspapers, TV commercials and even writing to each member of the ALP in a bid to head off a humiliating defeat on the floor of ALP Conference. Iemma also wrote to pensioners.

But if, as the Government advertisements indicated, no one will lose their job, services will remain and prices will be maintained why would anyone want to buy a business that has its future operations set in stone?

The new owners will want to make big money for their outlay through cost cutting and won't want to be told before they sign on the dotted line that they essentially can't change a thing.

In other words, in attempting to try and quash concerns about the sale the Government have effectively painted any buyer into a corner and it may potentially have set itself up for further costs in an industry it no longer owns.

Also, possible purchasers may want some sort indemnity for costs arising from any Federal Government legislation on carbon pricing or retrofitting generators to reduce emissions.

The Garnaut Report has recommended that there be no free permits in relation to carbon emissions, a position supported by Kevin Rudd.

If power stations have to pay for permits that will reduce marketability and the amount the Government will receive. That's reason enough to at least put the sale on hold until after 2010.

By way of contrast with the NSW situation, it's worth noting that the Tasmanian Government has stated categorically that it would not sell off its electricity industry to pay for the new Hobart Hospital. That project will instead be paid for by budgeting $900 million over the coming years and by that now old world concept of borrowing money.

Unions in conjunction with the framework of the Your Rights At Work community campaign - which was so effective during the Federal election - have now turned their attention to lobbying 17 MPs who have yet to declare their position on the sale and their voting intentions on the issue at ALP Conference.

A campaign website (www.stoptheselloff.org.au) allows you to send Morris Iemma a "shock" email protesting the power sale.

Members, their families and friends can also register their opposition to the plan by signing the petition that can be downloaded from the PSA website at www.psa.labor.net.au.

The petitions must be returned to the PSA no later than 1 May as they will be presented to the Premier at the ALP State Conference on 3 May.