The Electrical Trades Union has accused the State Government of privatisation by stealth and claims a “major restructure” at Stanwell is part of the process.
ETU State Organiser Jason Young today accused Stanwell of “plotting and scheming” to enable privatisation.
“We had a ‘secret squirrel’ meeting notice with no agenda delivered via email to all union organisers and delegates less than 24 hours before a proposed meeting, advising of a briefing at 2:30pm today,” Mr Young said.
“The managers conducting the briefing proceeded to run through scary graphs that supposedly showed the need to cut costs by 11 per cent through a massive restructure of all parts of the generation arm of the business.
“This is an implementation of the Costello audit before the Premier has even read it.”
The final audit report, completed by former federal treasurer Peter Costello, was handed to the State Government on Friday.
It recommended outsourcing and asset sales to reduce State Government debt.
However only the executive summary has been released publicly, and only the Premier and Treasurer have reportedly been given a full copy.
“(The Stanwell restructure) is a sham and the timing just so happens to coincide with the eight-week timeframe for the government to consider the shonky report,” Mr Young said.
“Does the government really think Queenslanders are going to accept this type of secretive behaviour without smelling a privatisation rat?
“If they are so adamant that this is going to be good for Queensland, stop the rot, show us the report and let us make up our own mind instead of scurrying around implementing changes without a mandate.”
Premier Campbell Newman told the ABC today he had doubts about selling the “poles and wires” of Queensland’s electricity network, but did not mention electricity generators.
“I’m going to have to be convinced, because it’s a natural monopoly,” he said.
However he admitted he had not yet read the full Costello report.
