By Adam Hanieh
ADELAIDE — One hundred people packed the Pilgrim Church Hall on May 15 for a public meeting organised by the Keep Telstra Public Alliance. The meeting was chaired by Reverend Lee Levitt-Olson, who opened the proceedings by declaring that "Public utilities do not belong to the government, they belong to us".
Democrat Senator Meg Lees pointed out that the environment is the only portfolio where a linkage has been made with the sale of a public asset. The Democrats have called for the funding of environmental schemes from 7% of Telstra's pre-tax profit.
Labor Senator Chris Schacht promised ALP opposition to the sale. He responded to criticism of the ALP's own privatisation record by claiming that Telstra was different from Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank. A Labor Party ex-member told Green Left afterwards that Schacht had called on members who opposed the privatisation of the SA Gas Company to "leave the ALP".
Marg Sexton from the Community and Public Sector Union pointed out that half of New Zealand Telecom's employees lost their job with privatisation. Col Cooper from the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, the other major union covering Telstra workers, strongly defended public ownership as the underpinning of social justice. He called on those that had expressed opposition to the privatisation to do "no deals on this matter".
Rowena McLean, of the Australian Conservation Foundation, noted that Telstra was the largest user of alternative energy in Australia, a position which would be threatened if profit became the driving force of the company.
Stephen Spence of the Australian Greens strongly criticised the Liberals' notion of a mandate, pointing out that the majority of Australians did not vote for them.