{"id":69359,"date":"2014-05-29T13:34:38","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T03:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=69359"},"modified":"2020-08-31T12:51:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T02:51:13","slug":"etu-calls-on-treasurer-to-come-clean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/05\/29\/etu-calls-on-treasurer-to-come-clean\/","title":{"rendered":"ETU Calls On Treasurer ‘To Come Clean’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stuart<\/a>
ETU Organiser Stuart Traill (Photo: CairnsBlog.Net)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

May 29, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Electrical Trades Union has called on State Treasurer Tim Nicholls to “stop the spin and come clean” about the social impacts of electricity privatisation and private equity investment.<\/p>\n

ETU State Organiser Stuart Traill said the union “shared the frustration” that the State Government was failing to listen to ordinary Queenslanders who say they do not want asset sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Treasurer has continued to dodge and weave questions about energy security, services and the price impacts of handing control of our public-owned electricity assets to private companies in the form of private equity investment, ” Mr Traill said.<\/p>\n

“Essentially we as Queenslanders through our government will lose control of the Boards of Ergon, Energex and Powerlink to private contractors whose primary function is to maximise profit for their shareholders, and in many cases their overseas owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know the following companies? Cheung Kong, SP AusNet, CitiPower, Singapore Power, Powercor? No? Well you could well be dealing with some or all of them if our power networks are opened up to private equity deals.<\/p>\n

“The above companies, which are majority overseas owned, have interests in Victoria\u2019s and South Australia\u2019s privatised electricity networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how has it worked out for South Australians and Victorians?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Well, let\u2019s look at two indicators: price and service. Both Victoria and South Australia are more expensive than Queensland, so the competition mantra has clearly failed.<\/p>\n

“On the service front, Victoria\u2019s overseas-owned SP AusNet\u2019s poor network maintenance was implicated in the Black Saturday bushfires that claimed 173 lives in Victoria just five short years ago.<\/p>\n

“On the issue of depot closures and job cuts the news gets worse, massive job cuts and regional decay became the order of the day in Victorian regions with the Gippsland\/Latrobe Valley economies the hardest hit and still yet to recover while in South Australia all regional depots were closed causing mass redundancies and relocations.<\/p>\n

“So Mr Nicholls here are the questions you have dodged, again we believe Queenslanders deserve answers:<\/strong><\/p>\n