Electricity Privatisation on Government's Agenda

[Elisia Yeo]

Media Release 24/11/99
		
The inquiries into the power industry by the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee have been criticised as back door manoeuvres towards electricity privatisation in NSW by The Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon.

"These inquiries are being used to build a case for privatisation, which was soundly rejected at the last election.

"You only have to look at Michael Egan's statements to realise what's going on. Today he talked about problems with putting the industry into a competitive market. 

"This constructs the argument that you can't have state-owned enterprises in a competitive market because they cannot make appropriate decisions in a risky environment, and therefore the electricity industry should be privatised. 

"This argument is clearly false. It puts the competitive market on a pedestal and fails to value the important contributions of public enterprise to the Australian economy and to the community.

"The community has indicated over and over again that it doesn't want privatisation. How many times are we going to have to say this before the major parties get it through their thick skulls?

"Mr Egan is a poster boy for backdoor tactics and ugly deals. The Government and the Opposition may argue that these inquiries just look at the management of the power industry, but we've known from day one that they both favour privatisation.

"Both parties should just accept the duty they have to maintain high quality publicly-owned infrastructure and stop trying to sidestep their responsibilities for a fast buck." said Ms Rhiannon.


More information: Elisia Yeo (02) 9230 3549 / 0409 787 911.