So, Barry O’Farrell and the Coalition rained on Morris Iemma’s privatisation parade. Now, the Dilemmster announces that he can still privatise the retailers and generation sites without parliamentary approval.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Iemma’s original argument some high sounding blather about the sovereignty of the people’s representatives in Parliament assembled and governing in the people’s interest not those of the unions and the party machine? Internal ALP democracy was supposed to give way to parliamentary democracy.
Pathetic. Contempt for his own party, the people of New South Wales and democratic institutions.
Hat tip: Chookie in comments.
The sovereignty of the people’s representatives in Parliament assembled and governing in the people’s interest is a consummation devoutly to be wished Kim.
After what we have witnessed here already by way of unfair dismissal without notice its clear we have a long way to go to get it.
The Governor-general that governs not at all governs best, bless you sweet.
Hmmm. Whatever the merits or otherwise of the policy, it seems that Iemma is showing nothing but contempt for his party and his parliamentary colleagues.
Why is he still Premier?
Kim – the amount of money going into advertising to try and get some public support is quite high (saw ads in 3 newspapers yesterday alone). Seems that when the party won’t supply the support they decided to try and appeal directly to the public.
Robert – I think he’s also showing a hell of a lot of contempt for the general public (never mind the party that funded/supported/trained him) – the barrage of ads (showing nothing but the positive aspects), the complete “my way or the highway” attitude and the idealistic belief that in all cases “private is good, public is bad”…
What surprises me most is how far him and his supporters have gone out on a limb. I don’t think I’ve seen someone commit political suicide in such an excrutiating manner before.
Unless he’s planning retirement before the next election I cannot see how he expects to even retain his seat.
As for Costa – he seems to be under the impression that threats will (a) work on anyone in general, and (b) can be kept secret in a hall full of people. Naive in the extreme…
ps. apologies for the above grammer /spelling…I is an enjineeerr
You could of course say the same about the federal government using regulations to collect taxes (alcopops) before the laws allowing them to do so have been passed by the parliament.
Maaaate! Aw, Come on, Maaaaate! You’re acting like all this is something new. Thew NSW Right of the ALP have been acting in absolute contempt of parliamentary democracy and party policy since the mid 60s at least, resorting to threats, intimidation and thuggery as a first resort for decades.
There’s nothing new here, just as there’s nothing new in the Cosra Iemma plot to sell off the various retail arms.
But what I want to know is, since these standover merchants are acting in diret contravention of party policy, WHY THE HELL HASN’T THE ALP EXPELLED THEM?!
A case of gutless wonder syndrome?
Admin committee is meeting this afternoon, Paul. They won’t be expelled but it could be an interesting day.
In partial defence of Iemma (on the procedural point, not the substantive merits), it’s not incoherent to say “The Cabinet, being composed of elected MPs serving as Ministers with the support of the elected Parliament, is a more democratic body than the Labor Party Conference, and is democratically legitimate enough to make a decision on this question if the legislature hasn’t forbidden it.”
Democratic credentials are absolute, not relative. I wouldn’t normally give any elected leader an 18-year term but still Aung San Suu Kyi has a better claim to legitimacy in Burma – based on her party’s victory in the most recent passably democratic election, in 1990 – than the junta has. I don’t like first past the post voting but would still have backed Lloyd George against the Lords in 1911.
Tom, didn’t you mean to write that “democratic credentials are relative, not absolute”?
“Admin committee is meeting this afternoon, Paul. They won’t be expelled but it could be an interesting day.”
Liam I think your faith in the party is admirable for it’s consistency but at some point this mangy collection of crooks will have to be dealt with.
It’s like a mirror image of the past situation the british Labour party had with Militant .Kinnock attacked and removed them much to many members discomfort but without that type of effort occurring in NSW the future for the party will be doubtful.
What sanctions can this committee institute that will be effective at a practical level?
Murph, the only way I can respond about my faith in the Labor Party is by referring you to Hebrews 11:1.
Psalm 146:3 would be a more likely outcome….
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
The latest Kev Rudd version of the bible as we now know it.
Well I’m appalled – utterly and horribly appalled. I watched Iemma smirk his way into the press conference to announce the “solution” of partial sell-off, after a ridiculous recall of Parliament, listened to him blame O’Farrell for the bill’s failure to pass, listened to him give an extraordinary Orwellian performance of lies as truth…
The contempt he and Costa displayed to the Parliament, the ALP, the electorate is either sociopathic or born of a hubris so monstrous that their unfit state to govern is no longer up for debate. Damn shame Bashir is so damn nice…..
Uh, yeah, what Paul said…
He’s turned himself into “Lie-emma”. The 24/7 non-stop lying machine.
Not even Howard got to this level. Howard said things that might have been true if you parsed them in a certain way, but Liemma doesn’t even bother. He says whatever bullshit comes into his head.
He’s one of the the most useless, self-serving dickheads that has ever existed.
“I don’t think I’ve seen someone commit political suicide in such an excruciating manner before…”
Amen to that Steve h.
Not bad for an enjineeerr. I reckon you did as good a job with the language as old IK Brunel managed with a few odd bits of iron.
And speaking or iron, I wish someone in Labor would grab an RSJ and belt a bit of sense into Morris with it. Hoping for too much, I’m sure.
Costa’s and Iemma’s latest antics
In anyone else here following the astonishing antics of NSW Treasurer Michael Costa and NSW Premier Morris Iemma? Just when I thought that this pair had already taken NSW politics to depths not previously imaginable, they have outdone themselves. Costa, who had promised the NSW that he would resign if his privatisation legislation was not carried, has since changed his tune. He is not to resign after all, it seems, that is unless the NSW Parliament agrees to a savage program of cuts to services and public service jobs, the privatisation of NSW’s ferries and railways maintenance in additon to the privatisation of NSW electricity’s retail arm.
Anyhow, for those who may be interested, I have posted quite a lot more material at candobetter.org/NswElectricity. This includes what I found to be a surprisingly good speech by NSW Upper House Opposition Leader Michael Gallacher. Costa’s atrocious record and his case for privatisation is torn to minute shreds during the course of this speech.
Kim: optional preferential doesn’t absolve voters of responsibility. To fail to choose is to have the decision made for you.
The debate about Australia Post has a tenuous relevance to NSW state politics and electricity. It’s tedious at best, ridiculous at worst, to romanticise state-run facilities.
NSW missed the power privatisation sprees of the 1990s. It missed the peak of the bull market too. Labor (governing NSW since 1995) is to blame for this. If Labor was serious about privatisation it would have done so. Iemma and Costa were part of the decision-making process that faffed and dithered their way to the point that privatisation is all that stands between NSW and a crisis, both in budget and power-supply terms. Labor don’t know how to get NSW out of this position and shouldn’t be trusted to come up with something. People who have any faith in NSW Labor on this issue are simply foolish.
We are in a transition period in terms of coal-generated electricity. To sell it, Iemma would have to give undertakings that could not seriously be expected of any government. Environmental regulation, shifting technologies, and indeed the very notion that power must be generated centrally and remotely is being undermined (a la the Woking model) to the point where no organisation concerned with shareholder returns would take it on. There was a point where the regulatory and general market environment was more certain, but as I said it has passed. There may be a point in future where things have stabilised to the point where clear and broad regulation is again possible. This is simply not the case now, and no amount of politics wil change that.
Then, there’s the issue of basic competence. The Greiner and Carr governments made commitments over toll-roads in northwestern Sydney that have hamstrung attempts to manage transport and (call it community development or call it flogging real-estate). Honestly, you wouldn’t trust these fuckers across the street. The idea that Labor are going to go after O’Farrell over “leadership” and “courage of convictions” is a joke, worse than John Howard talking about responsible economics.
The NSW government (whichever party, whoever leads it) has to run a patched-up electricity system until the regulatory environment is clear, and the market more bouyant. That’s it really. I suspect that Barry O’Farrell knows that and has acted on that basis.
Incidentally, Costa – is he the worst politician in the past 20 years or what? Not Greiner, not Costello, not Nelson, not Turnbull or even Howard, certainly not Baillieu or Springborg or the chair-sniffer – none of them are so contemptuous of working people, good governance and all things you’d want from government as that guy. Think about all those “Labor rats” who’ve up and left the ALP – none of them has done as much damage to Labor as Michael Costa has and does.
Costa entered Parliament in October 2001. He comes due for his pension this October. That’s why he hasn’t spat the dummy and flounced off. With that in mind – it isn’t loyalty, it’s stupidity to claim any coincidence between the actions of Costa (and Sartor, and Meagher, and Roozendaal, etc.) and the interests of working people.
Andrew E, since Kim doesn’t live in NSW, it’s a hypothetical.
I have trouble believing what’s gone on.
I’ve been at the government not to privatise, and if you were to ask me the biggest reason not to privatise, then that would be that if we got off our butts and rolled out Solar Thermal generators in a scheme like the snowy, then we could relegate coal based generation to a backup role, reducing emissions (and the amount to be stored underground should that happen on a commercial scale.)
they dont seem to care. As far as i can tell they just want some money.
I have issues with the owen report because It said in Para 2.2
“With a focus on baseload energy, the Inquiry has primarily considered NSW total energy needs over time, rather than the maximum demand for electricity at a single point of time”
So if we dont look at this then how are we sure the “lights will stay on”. One report (i cant remember which) said the amount of new energy required would be equivalent to one new Munmorah station. I hope those in government didnt just think that building a new Munmorah class station would be enough. While were consuming more power, were also consuming it at the same time, making the consumption “peakier”. (We all come home from work and turn on the home air-conditioner on hot days).
The treasurer said in a recent interview “The cost to the taxpayer is increased electricity prices because we’ll be introducing peakers, by and large, into the system instead of baseloads, so that’ll push up average prices”. This is misleading. Although more expensive to run, Peaker plants are usually cheaper to build and don’t run 24 hours a day and even if they did would make a small amount of energy compared to existing baseload generators.
If you read the hansard for friday, Apparently it was one man who alone stopped the sale, Mr Barry O’Farrell the member for Ku-ring-gai and alleged economic vandal.
The premier said this in response to one question “. The record of the last Coalition Government was to run around New South Wales closing power stations. Do I need to remind members opposite about Tallawarra power station? Closed! Do I need to remind them of who abandoned Mount Piper 3 and 4 and who never proceeded with the expansion of Bayswater? The Coalition!
I could believe this argument if this was a first term Labor government, however they’ve been in long enough so that they have to accept responsibility for not acting.