Almost 70% of NSW voters oppose the partial sale of state-owned electricity "poles and wires" assets, according to a Fairfax/Ipsos opinion poll reported in the November 24 Sydney Morning Herald. Only 29% say they support the NSW Coalition government's plan to lease 49% of the power facilities to private corporations.
The same 69% of people also believe that electricity prices would rise if the sale goes through; while only 7% think prices would fall. About 20% consider prices would remain the same.
Underlining the tricky nature of opinion polls, the same survey showed that support for the sale, if the proceeds are used for infrastructure projects, rose to 55%, with 40% opposed.
Of course, if the pollsters had framed the question to include the fact that the government would simultaneously lose $1.7 billion in annual dividends from the power industry, which is used to fund public health, education and transport, the result would no doubt have been quite different again.
Under the headline, "The Baird ultimatum," the November 26 SMH reported that Premier Mike Baird has effectively launched his campaign for the March state election with the pledge to spend the expected $20 billion from the partial sale of electricity assets on road, rail and other infrastructure projects over the next decade.
But the infrastructure plan is contingent on the Coalition winning the election, Baird warned. "Because if we don't win, not a cent will be spent."
Susan Price, Socialist Alliance candidate for the NSW seat of Summer Hill said: "This is nothing more than 'Baird blackmail' on the NSW people.
"The Baird government is threatening to sell off the most valuable remaining public asset the state owns, in order to build tollways and privatised railways.
"It is nothing less than theft on a truly massive scale. The list of projects Baird says the government will fund from the sale of the power industry shows the overwhelming predominance of hand-outs to big corporations through so-called Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).
"The largest single allocation is $7 billion for a second Sydney Harbour rail tunnel crossing project, designed to link up the already planned private north-west rail link with the Bankstown rail line. Details are still sketchy, but it is clear the whole enterprise will be based on big business, rather than an extension of the public rail system.
"In fact, the danger is that this and other PPP rail projects could be the thin end of the wedge toward a fully privatised rail system in future. The disaster of the Kennett government's sell-off of the public rail system in Melbourne should be a serious warning against this alarming prospect," Price said.
"Moreover, there is gigantic black hole in the costings presented by Premier Baird on November 25. While $1.1 billion is supposedly allocated for extensions to the WestConnex privatised tollway project, where is the funding, estimated at up to $10 billion in all, coming from for the main WestConnex road tunnel itself?
"This has never been spelt out in the projections for West Connex. This huge white elephant of a road should be stopped right now.
"Sydney needs more genuine public transport, not more polluting and traffic generating roads, which only create more demand for private cars and trucks. The people want more public transport, and the planet needs it,” Price said.
Meanwhile, the NSW Labor opposition and Shooters and Fishers Party (SFP) have warned that the Baird government's proposed 49% sale of the state-owned "poles and wires" companies is only the first stage of a full sell-off of the power industry to big business.
SFP leader Robert Borsak said if Baird is allowed to sell 49%, he will move to sell the remaining assets after the election, including Essential Energy, a regional provider that has been excluded from the transaction to secure the support of the Nationals.
Susan Price challenged all parties running in the March NSW state election to pledge not only to oppose the sale of all power assets, but to "renationalise the retail sector of the electricity industry which was privatised some years ago.
"The sell-off of retail electricity companies has led to a massive rise in power bills for the NSW community over recent years. This huge rip-off exposes the lie that privatisation leads to lower prices for power or any other service.
"This neo-liberal crusade to sell off all the remaining people's property, led by the Abbott government in Canberra and matched by Coalition (and previous Labor) governments in the states, including NSW, must stop right now.
"The Socialist Alliance calls for the nationalisation of the energy, mining and banking industries under workers' and community control, to be run in the interests of the people, the environment and Aboriginal rights.”
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