[Greens-Media] Port of Melbourne sale is a bad idea - Greens

[Elizabeth.Ingham at parliament.vic.gov.au]

Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber says selling off the Port of Melbourne 
is a bad idea.

"The Port of Melbourne returned $175 million in dividends to Victorians 
over the last five years. That's on net assets of around $1.5 billion. 
Selling the Port isn't 'free money'; we lose the stream of income we've 
been getting," said Greg Barber MLC

"The Productivity Commission says financial returns of Australian ports 
are 'not indicative of excessive profit taking'.*  So how is a new 
operator going to squeeze more juice out of the orange? New and higher 
fees? Property development? If I was an exporter, I'd be worried.

"We will lose control of one of the state's most strategic economic 
assets. Long term decisions about transport strategy will be subsumed by 
the need for short term private profits."

" Good luck talking to a private operator about freight strategies, like 
moving freight off road and onto rail. If the contract doesn't require it, 
they simply won't do it."

"The Greens oppose the development of Hastings as a container port, 
because if it is developed they'll have to dredge the life out of it and 
kiss goodbye to the mangroves and its listing as a Ramsar Wetland of 
International Importance and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve."

" Once the ALP floated the idea of a port sale, it was inevitable the Libs 
would move first. Flogging off the public wealth and selling our future 
seems to be another thing those parties agree on," said Mr Barber

For comment: Greg Barber - 0433 044 771

* http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/82242/19-chapter9.pdf

***************************

Liz Ingham
Office of Greg Barber MLC
Northern Metropolitan Region
Victorian Greens Leader

P: 9348 2622
M: 0409 333 595
E: elizabeth.ingham at parliament.vic.gov.au
W: http://mps.vic.greens.org.au

///////************************************************************///////////////

Parliament of Victoria                                                                                                                    . 
Important Disclaimer Notice:


The information contained in this email  including any attachments, may be 
confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please 
notify the sender and delete it from  your system. Any unauthorised 
disclosure, copying or dissemination of all or part of this email, including 
any attachments, is not permitted. This email, including any attachments, should 
be dealt with in accordance with copyright and  privacy legislation. 
Except where otherwise stated, views expressed are those of the individual sender.