And the sequel according to a different view:
NSW Labor Premier prepares to privatise electricity despite party
conference defeat Mike Head
5 May 2008
New South Wales Labor Premier Morris Iemma yesterday announced his
government would proceed with its plan to privatise key sections of
the state=92s electricity industry, despite the overwhelming rejection
of the plan, by 702 votes to 107, at the Australian Labor Party (ALP)
state conference on Saturday. Iemma declared that the electricity
facilities would be on the market by the end of the year.
Iemma=92s contempt for the party vote was underscored by the fact that
he made his announcement at a media briefing conducted in his office
across town from the conference, which was still in session. The
premier claimed he had a =93constitutional responsibility=94 to the people
of the state to =93proceed down the path=94 the government commenced when
it suddenly unveiled the sell-off last December.
Iemma refused to answer questions about whether he had placed his job
on the line by defying the party conference, where he was booed and
heckled, together with six other cabinet ministers. He told the media
he was confident of the sup****t of his parliamentary caucus, and he
would =93leave the door open=94 to talks with =93all stakeholders,
including=
the trade unions=94.
Despite Iemma=92s defiance of the vote, there was no move at the ALP
conference on Sunday to call him to order, let alone demand his
expulsion. While there were cries of =93shame=94 from many delegates when
news of the premier=92s position was relayed to the conference, the
various party and union leaders welcomed his =93offer=94 of further
negotiations. Their overriding concern was clear: to prevent an open
confrontation with the government by presenting to Iemma a range of
alternative options for =93reforming=94 the power industry.
Virtually unanimously, the conference passed a resolution that merely
reaffirmed the vote of the day before, called for an urgent meeting of
the joint party-unions campaign committee and =93noted=94 the premier=92s
=93intention to continue discussions=94.
Moving the resolution, party state president Bernie Riordan, from the
Electrical Trades Union, declared that the power industry =93does need
reform, whether it be vertical integration or privatisation=94 and said
the unions had already given the government seven or eight options,
all of which had been refused. Riordan appealed for Iemma to =93come to
the table=94 because the future of the party was at stake.
Seconding the motion, assistant state secretary Luke Foley, who
represents the party=92s =93Left=94 faction, said Iemma had =93thrown down
t=
he
gauntlet=94 and the party was =93at the edge of a precipice=94. But, he
emphasised, all the party and union leaders, =93left and right=94 had
sought to avoid the crisis. =93We have expressed a willingness to
discuss,=94 he said. =93Let=92s embrace the premier=92s offer and not go
ove=
r
the precipice...We desire nothing more than the closest relations.=94
A few minutes earlier, the head of the state=92s peak union body, Unions
NSW secretary John Robertson, set the tone by telling the delegates
that the first step in dealing with Iemma=92s decision was to =93control
ourselves=94. Unions needed Labor governments to survive, he insisted.
=93Whatever happens, we all need to work together, to keep our party
strong and to keep Labor in power around the nation.=94
Far from leading a fight against privatisation, the ALP and union
leaders are working desperately to prop up the Iemma government in the
face of deep-seated hostility throughout the working class toward the
privatisation plan, which involves selling off the state-owned
electricity retail cor****ations=97Energy Australia, Integral Energy and
Country Energy=97and leasing the power generators=97Delta Electricity,
Eraring Energy and Macquarie Generation.
Just days before the weekend conference, Murdoch newspaper polls
re****ted that Iemma=92s personal satisfaction rating had plunged to 28
percent, one of the worst results on record. The slump reflected
discontent on many fronts, including the parlous condition of the
state=92s public health system, rail and trans****t networks, and public
schools, and the bankrolling of the Labor Party by business interests,
particularly property developers, liquor traders and gambling
operators.
Rudd backs Iemma
Iemma made his declaration knowing he had the full backing of the
federal Rudd government. On Saturday, as the conference opened,
federal Treasurer Wayne Swan was featured in a front-page interview
with the Australian=92s editor at large, Paul Kelly, describing Iemma=92s
privatisation agenda as central to the federal government=92s economic
program. =93I think they are im****tant reforms,=94 Swan told Kelly.
=93They
go to the heart of the (Council of Australian Governments) agenda. I
sup****t the reforms put by Premier Iemma.=94
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addressed the state conference on Sunday
morning, just hours after the motion=92s resounding defeat, but chose
not to restate his own public sup****t for Iemma=92s plans. His position,
however, was made crystal clear. After referring to the =93disagreement=94
of the previous day, he said his message to the conference was: =93The
time has come to get on with the business of building a modern
Australian nation capable of meeting the challenges of the twenty-
first century.=94
Rudd=92s speech reiterated his pro-business agenda. It was littered with
references to =93removing the unnecessary regulatory burdens on
business=94, =93microeconomic reform=94 and =93reducing government
spending=
=94.
=93Australian business wants us to lead the nation towards a long term
goal of a seamless national economy,=94 he declared.
There was not a murmur of dissent from any of the 800 delegates. As he
made his entrance into the hall, Rudd was greeted with an ecstatic
standing ovation, a chorus of cheers and prolonged hand-clapping, all
to the sound of rock music. No one had any intention of mentioning
Rudd=92s previously stated =93complete sup****t=94 for Iemma=92s sell-off
pla=
n.
Not a single delegate wore one of the yellow anti-privatisation tee-
****rts that had been on display all over the conference floor the day
before.
Ludicrous efforts were made throughout the conference to depict the
privatisation plan as the brainchild of one man=97state Treasurer
Michael Costa, and his overriding arrogance. While Costa has certainly
played a key role, he has not been alone. Rudd, Iemma and the entire
federal and state party leader****p are preoccupied with carrying
through the NSW power sell-off as a signal to the media and cor****ate
establishment that the Rudd government=92s wider privatisation, =93public-
private partner****ps=94 and =93economic reform=94 agenda will be
implemented=
in full.
Throughout the weekend, the Murdoch media outlets were particularly
strident. Saturday=92s editorial in the Australian began: =93When NSW
Premier Morris Iemma receives his ritualistic pasting from self-
interested trade union leaders today over the $10 billion partial
privatisation of the state=92s electricity assets, he can console
himself with the knowledge that he has right and public interest on
his side.=94
Today=92s Australian went further, insisting that Iemma=92s stand was
crucial for the fate of the Rudd government: =93Mr Iemma must
demonstrate that he is prepared to govern for all people and ignore
the demands of state conference. Failure to do so will have
consequences well beyond the term of the present government. The
ramifications will also be felt well past the borders of NSW and
represent a poor omen for the prospects of Mr Rudd=92s own reform
agenda.=94
According to Saturday=92s Australian, a survey of 414 NSW business
representatives found that three-quarters of them believed electricity
reform was im****tant or very im****tant to business. The survey was
commissioned by Infrastructure Partner****ps of Australia (IPA), a
privatisers=92 lobby group. IPA executive director Garry Bowditch told
the newspaper: =93NSW businesses stand as one with the NSW government=97
reform must happen if this state is to continue to grow and develop.=94
The Rudd government=92s new Infrastructure Australia agency is expected
to lay the basis for highly-lucrative private investment and
=93partner****ps=94 in public infrastructure and government services
nationally, including electricity and gas, water, hospitals, schools
and toll roads. In his conference speech, Rudd listed Infrastructure
Australia as one of his government=92s highest priorities.
The record internationally has been that the insistence on short-term
profits leads to job destruction, price hikes, service breakdowns and
environmental problems. In the neighbouring state of Victoria, where
the electricity industry was sold off a decade ago, average annual
power bills have increased from $945 to $1,106, while the number of
jobs fell from 27,000 to 12,000 before privatisation, and to 7,000
afterwards. In another neighbouring state, Queensland, power bills are
expected to have risen by nearly 20 percent by July, following the
introduction of full retail competition last year.
The most notorious experience is that of California, where large
cor****ations such as Enron literally sabotaged the power grid to drive
up prices and reap massive profits, stripping an estimated $10 billion
from the state=92s coffers.
Unions enforce market agenda
The union and Labor leaders who claim to be defending =93public=94 power
have already presided over decades of job losses and semi-
privatisation. The NSW Electricity Commission was long ago carved up
into an array of generating, transmitting and retailing cor****ations,
all operating like private businesses. For example, one veteran worker
from Wallerawang power station near Lithgow told the WSWS that the
blue collar workforce there had been cut from about 500 to less than
50 in his 26 years on the job. Increasingly, work has been contracted
out.
The Labor Party has been privatising public services for decades.
Between 1983 and 1996, the Hawke and Keating governments, backed by
votes at party conferences, sold off major enterprises such as the
Commonwealth Bank and Qantas, leading to massive job losses, price
increases and service cuts, all to generate multi-billion dollar
profits. The unions either openly acceded to the sales or actively
smothered rank-and-file opposition.
In so far as the unions led workers to believe that a federal Labor
victory would see a significant change, they are beginning to receive
a rude shock. One Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)
official flatly told the WSWS that if the ALP conference had not voted
against the privatisation plan it would have been the final death of
the Labor Party, whose member****p and sup****t base had already
dwindled. He described the mood of his union members as =93livid=94. In
other words, the so-called =93victory=94 for the anti-privatisation vote
was essentially a political show, designed to appease union members.
=2E..
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