Don't Sell the Snowy Campaign

[kerry]

The campaign to stop the sell-off of the Snowy Hydro scheme continues
to gather support. After succeeding in getting a parliamentary
inquiry established the Greens MPs have now been able to get Upper
House support for a motion forcing the government to table all of the
documents relating to the privatisation.

After this motion was passed by the parliament Finance Minister Della
Bosca made a desperate move to try to stop the documents being
released. His attempt to bring on a new motion, without formal
notice, to stop the release of the documents was thwarted by the
Greens MP but it is likely he will try again when parliament resumes
next week.

Meanwhile, the work is being done to build the Don't Sell the Snowy
Rally, which will take place on state budget day, Tuesday 6 June,
from 12:30 pm at the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park. If you work in
the city or have the time to travel into the city on the day, please
come along to the rally and support the campaign.

\
\The fight to save the Snowy Hydro from privatisation continues. As
part of the campaign, I will introduce a Private Member's Bill to
prevent the sale going ahead unless approved by both Houses of
Parliament. I hope to get the support of the Opposition and
Crossbenchers to pass the bill through the Upper House.

[kerry]

Help save the Snowy by phoning or emailing Opposition and Cross Bench
members before 23 May to call on them to not vote for the
Government's motion that will stop the release of key documents on
the Snowy Hydro.

The relevant email addresses are:
Nationals:
Duncan Gay <[e-mail]>
Andrew Stoner <[e-mail]>
Melinda Pavey <[e-mail]>
Rick Colless <[e-mail]>
Jenny Gardiner <[e-mail]>

Liberals:
Mike Gallacher <[e-mail]>
Greg Pearce <[e-mail]>
Don Harwin <[e-mail]>
David Clarke <[e-mail]>
Catherine Cusack <[e-mail]>
Patricia Forsythe <[e-mail]>
Charlie Lynn <[e-mail]>
Robyn Parker <[e-mail]>
John Ryan <[e-mail]>

Cross Bench:
Peter Wong (Unity) <[e-mail]>
Robert Brown (Shooters) <[e-mail]>
David Oldfield (One Nation) <[e-mail]>
Rev Gordon Moyes (CDP) <[e-mail]>
Rev Fred Nile (CDP) <[e-mail]>

The more people inundate them with emails, letters or phone calls,
the more they are likely to listen.

[kerry]

Murray River Rescue Betrayed By Clearfelling
Conservation groups have found a series of large clearfell operations
close to the banks of the Murray. I find it astonishing that a state
government agency would clearfell large areas of wetland forest near
the banks of the river at a time when the federal government has
allocated $500 million to improve the health of the Murray. River Red
Gum forests are already under serious threat due to the lack of
environmental flows in the Murray and tributaries, with large areas
of forest dead and dying. Adding clearfelling to the equation could
be the death knell of these majestic wetland forests. Last week I
asked Minister Macdonald a question in Parliament about the
clearfelling operations and I am calling on the government to save
the River Red Gums by creating a linked system of National Parks
along the Murray and its tributaries.

Snowy Hydro Private Member's Bill
The fight to save the Snowy Hydro from privatisation continues. As
part of the campaign, I will introduce a Private Member's Bill to
prevent the sale going ahead unless approved by both Houses of
Parliament. I hope to get the support of the Opposition and
Crossbenchers to pass the bill through the Upper House.

Water Recycling Announcements a Good Start
The Government announced its water recycling scheme for parts of
western Sydney and Kurnell, which was a welcome step. However, 450
billion litres of sewage is still pumped into our oceans each year.
That is a massive amount of potential water wasted when compared with
the 27 billion litres the Premier claims will be saved by the scheme
in western Sydney.

A great step backward is the forthcoming Liverpool to Ashfield
pipeline, which will involve treated sewage being dumped back into
the raw sewage in the western branch main sewer at Ashfield. Here we
have clean reusable effluent fouled again and released wastefully
into our ocean environment. Why not use this pipeline for its
original purpose, to provide recycled water to homes and businesses
along its route?

[tommygun]

Kosci is expected to have much less snow cover, say 25% less in 20 years
time says scientists in April front pager big exclusive on climate change
impact on Kosci NP.

It figures this correlates with less water into Snowy scheme too.

It figures the public servants are telling the govt (NSW, Fed and Vic) its
the right time to sell for this lower water volumes, but they can't say it
specifically in the market place because ..... its true and will damage the
price.

This all reminds me of 1997 Carr wanting to realize the power generating coal
assets and get rid of them pre Kyoto sign off. He was thinking in 10, 20
years time coal will be an albatross, a white elephant, not a magnificent
asset, at least much constrained in a post climate change policy world, best
dumped onto the market. This of course assumes the govt a long way ahead of
the other bean counters in private industry, a sort of callous prescience to
protect the budget revenue on the part of state and./or federal governments.

A bit like the GST really when all governments state and federal and even
ALP federally dumped rollback, and jumped at the money once it got through
despite all the political posturing beforehand.

God help us all. What do the government really know about water flows and
are not telling us?

[fusil]

While I agyee with and support the campaign to not sell off the Snowy, I would prefer to see a demand that it not be sold unless permission be given by at least 75% of the electors by Referendum.

The Snowy is already in 'private' ownership. It is owned by the people.
What the Governments are trying to do is to reduce the number of owners.

Fusil.

[robertau1788]

No matter how viewed, the Snowy Scheme cannot be sold without first holding a Constitutional Referendum. The Commonwealth, in order to be able to build the scheme, first had to use its Constitutional powers to acquire FREEHOLD LAND under the Just Terms Acquisition and Resumption provisions to lay down the foundations of the entire Scheme, directly onto what had been Freehold Soil with access and water entitlements attached to the LAND and where the first LAND registrations went to the centre of the LAND under each free-flowing river system.

The Federal Government, because the three States had no capacity to fund, then used taxes garnered from the adult work-force of the wider Australia, to fund the infrastructure which by any simple deduction, leaves the entire Sovereign People of the NATION owning the asset. It belongs to us!

Today a short 4 year term, elected State Government has put on the jackboots and has ruthlessly said the Scheme will be sold to private enterprise. All this "spin" is nothing more than political expedient "fiscal-spin" and misses the underlying treachery of an inept government whose past record exemplifies that it couldn't manage a backyard "longdrop".

Minister Della Bosca revealed an appalling lack of understanding in Cooma last Thursday evening which in itself, is enough to send shivers down one's spine that he is adamant a sale 'will take place" when he has neither knowledge or understanding, yet will sell to do no more than balance the sins of a wasteful administration.

In his own garbled defence he implicitly admitted that the State does not 'own" the Water [we also have a letter on record to this effect written in about 1996] admitting and advising that "the State does not OWN the Water; it only controls and manages the resource". Some management we say.

Surely it goes without saying that if one doesn't own the asset, then one has no power to sell what one doesn't own. Simple moral ethics in anyone's language!!

By
June Weston


Please sign the petition

www.ipetitions.com/petition/snowyhydrosale/

[lennie]

Living in close proximity as I do, there are alot of questions being asked by the local communities as to the Govt's rights to sell. I have tried to hunt it down diligently but have failed to find it, apparently there was a court amendment somewhere that it can be sold if all Govt parties, state and federal agree on it's sale and the decision to do so over-rides the constitutional referendum aspect. I'll keep looking, but if anyone else finds it, please post it.

[workingman]

And labor has the gall to criticise the federal government for trying to sell telstra !! You can not trust these bastards as far as you can spit a rat

The coalition are bad enough when it comes to being sneaky and deceitful but labor is far, far worse.

[buzz]

Considering all of the available facts as now
being presented by media regarding the
patently obvious stupidity of selling off the
federal government's portion of the Snowy
Mountains Hydro-electric scheme/complex (not
to mention the culpability involved in the
NSW government's initiation of the idiot
move), is there a smell of corruption in the
air here ?

(who will stand to gain most from the monkey
of profit being put on the back of the
people's Snowy operation?)


Is Mr Crash Through or Crash about to
-really- terminally sully his carefully spun
and nurtured 'honest' reputation?


Go dig boys and girls... ...and make it FAST,
then kick up like hell armed with the truth

[tommygun]

There may be a difference between Hydro Electric and Water scarcity true the water may not flow down the mountain because of warming but water is not scarce nor should it be so! In fact privatising resources lik say water is a worry but not for corporations. I don't know how power fits into that formula but one should also be weary that one is not assisting in the sale of assets that the community may need at a reasonable price that they could afford to pay. Not just the rich who own the corps but everyone

[robertau1788]

SNOWY HYDRO - A DESPERATE LABOR FIRE SALE
25 May 2006

The NSW Labor Government's decision to sell their majority shareholding of Snowy Hydro Pty Ltd is nothing more than a desperate attempt to bring the NSW State Government budget into balance in the lead-up to the 2007 State Election, NSW Nationals Senator Fiona Nash said today.

"Ten successive years of financial mismanagement by the NSW State Labor government is the only reason Snowy Hydro Pty Ltd is on the market," Senator Nash said.

"NSW Labor is selling Snowy Hydro to plug up the NSW budget deficit in the lead-up to the 2007 State Election."

"Let us not lose sight of the real issue here; 10+ years of NSW Labor financial mismanagement has created this situation!

"NSW Labor see the sell-off of their 58% shareholding of Snowy Hydro as a veritable cash cow, a panacea, the answer to their economic woes. This is nothing more than a fire sale!"

Senator Nash said NSW's decision to sell its 58% majority share holding in Snowy Hydro has forced the Federal Government to reluctantly offer its minority non-controlling 13% stake.

"If the NSW Government sale goes ahead it makes no sense for the Federal Government to retain such a small, non-controlling shareholding."

"I strongly support the position taken by my NSW State Nationals' colleagues that the State Labor Governments, NSW and Victoria, should not have taken the decision to sell Snowy Hydro.

"I encourage anyone who is opposed to the Snowy Hydro sale to show their support by putting their name to an online petition site.savesnowyhydro.com/

"I reject calls from some quarters for the Federal Government to buy Snowy Hydro. Such action would just be bailing NSW Labor out of a hole of their own making.

"My position is clear, the States should not be selling the iconic Snowy Hydro."

[robertau1788]

Save Snowy Hydroin favour of public debate on the sale of the Snowy Hydro ... We then ask that all interested parties - all governments, Snowy Hydro Ltd, the general public

www.savesnowyhydro.com/


Petition
in favour of public debate on the sale of the Snowy Hydro
To the Honourable President and Members of the Legislative Council of New South Wales and the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales
We the undersigned petition that the New South Wales Government immediately halt the sale process of Snowy Hydro Limited. We then ask that all interested parties - all governments, Snowy Hydro Ltd, the general public - immediately be allowed to engage in a free and open debate to determine whether the sale of Snowy Hydro is the fair and proper action for this asset.
We feel that this proposed sale has been rushed and has not allowed debate on whether the privatisation of Snowy Hydro is the proper action. We ask that all parties consider the historic, cultural, social and iconic status of the Snowy Hydro as well as the National Heritage importance in the debate and weigh up the benefits and drawbacks of such a sale.

We ask that the New South Wales Parliament accept this petition and seriously consider the ramifications of not stopping the sale of Snowy Hydro to the community, not just in the Monaro, but in New South Wales and Australia.

[christine]

The Snowy Mountain Hydro scheme sale, being promoted now by the NSW and Victorian Labor governments as well as the Federal conservative government, is expected to raise $3 billion. The State Government in Victoria is particularly eager to promote the fact that proceeds will go towards desperately needed infrastructure for public schools, while Federally, the conservatives will be using their proceeds to pay for superannuation liabilities of public servants.

Many, however, including former Liberal Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, are not convinced of the virtue of the sale. To begin with, the scheme itself, after corporatisation, is a valuable asset providing substantial revenue flow to the governments concerned. Reaping approximately $150 billion a year in profits under public ownership, surely the long term financial costs of the sale outweigh the short term benefits. Also, as Craig Ingram noted in a Radio National interview on February 19th 2006, privatization could well lead to the running down of the scheme, with private shareholders reluctant to risk share value by investing in badly needed maintenance. www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2006/1572539.htm#


As Kenneth Davidson writes in ‘The Age’ today, the Victorian Labor government ought not be playing ‘follow the leader’ in pursuing the Snowy privatization. For Davidson, the sale represents an opportunity for Victoria to “increase its share of the Snowy Hydro at a discount” as a consequence of a depressed sale price derived from the private ownership cap of 10% per major individual shareholder. www.theage.com.au/news/kenneth-davidson/dont-play-followtheleader-on-snowy/2006/05/31/1148956413927.html


As Davidson notes,

“If Victoria borrowed $42 billion to finance buying the federal and NSW shares of Snowy Hydro, it would increase state debt by about 1 percentage point, without affecting Victoria's triple-A credit rating.”

Davidson also notes that the privatized entity may seek to reduce environmental flows aimed at restoring the Snowy River to its former grandeur in order to maximize power production. Meanwhile, the value of the asset is bound to rise in future years as the demand for clean energy grows exponentially.

Whichever way you look at it, the case against the Snowy sale is very strong. While expenditure on infrastructure is welcome, the Victorian and NSW State governments are well placed to borrow for infrastructure at the low rate of 5.5% without resorting to an asset sale that, in the future, will cost hundreds of millions. For the Coalition, commitment to privatization is an ideological fancy of fanatical proportions. Prime Minister, John Howard, has admitted that most Australians are opposed to the sale but as was the case for the raft of privatizations under former Labor federal governments, this has been of little concern. au.news.yahoo.com/060528/23/z5ag.html
For Labor, too, it seems there is now a neo-liberal ideological commitment to privatization in addition to an aversion to debt-financing – even when State Governments are in strong financial positions and can afford to borrow and service debt without affecting their credit ratings.


It’s time now for members of the Labor Party, The Greens and of the broader community to mobilize against this fire sale of one of the nation’s most precious assets, and to keep water and electricity supplies in public hands.
Send your letters of protest to:

Steve Bracks, Premier of Victoria: [e-mail]
Morris Iemma, Premier of NSW: [e-mail]

Or email the Prime Minister, John Howard at the following URL: www.pm.gov.au/email.cfm

Alternatively, if you an ALP member move the following motion in your branch:

“We resolutely oppose the sale of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme and call upon State Labor governments to retain their majority shareholding. While water should be in the hands of all Australians rather than owned and distributed privately for profit, we are also concerned that the privatization of the scheme will cost the governments in question dearly in the future as the asset appreciates in value with growing demand for clean energy. Whether or not sufficient attention will be paid to the maintenance of the scheme with the introduction of financial pressures to maximize share value is also of great concern. The privatization process might also be opposed given that the ‘one-off’ windfall of approximately $3 billion is not enough to make up for the loss of about $150 million in public annual revenue. Furthermore, we are concerned that privatization will lead to pressures to reduce the flow of the Snowy River with severe ramifications for its future environmental viability. Should the NSW government proceed with the sale, we call upon the Victorian State Labor government to halt its commitment to privatizing its share and instead boost its stake in the scheme by purchasing both the NSW and Federal stakes in the scheme. Finally, we reject any suggestion that it is necessary to pay for infrastructure through the privatization of key public assets and call upon all Labor MPs, now, to voice their opposition to the sale. Should the sale proceed as currently planned, we call upon the next ALP National Conference to adopt policy to re-socialise the scheme upon attaining government”

[christine]

John Howard has stopped Labors plan to sell the Snowy. ;D

Because The Federal Government will not sell its share in Snowy Hydro.

The joint owners of the scheme, the Federal, New South Wales and Victorian Governments had previously agreed to list the Australian icon on the stock exchange.

But the Prime Minister, John Howard, now says the Government has listened to community concern on the issue and will not sell its 13 per cent share in the scheme.

After the Prime Minister made the announcement the New South Wales and Victorian Governments also said they would not sell their shares in the scheme.

Mr Howard says the public is unhappy with the sale of the Snowy Hydro and there is no good public reason for why the sale should go ahead.

"It has never been part of my master plan to sell the Snowy," Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard says the Member for Eden Monaro, Gary Nairn, was crucial in persuading him and other senior Government members to take this decision.

"This decision has created a lot of unhappiness in the Australian community and across the political spectrum," Mr Howard said.

"The reason we are changing our position on this is that the public is unhappy with the sale of the Snowy and there's no good public policy reason from our point of view why the sale should go ahead.

"I mean if there were some huge policy gain in selling the Snowy we would have maintained our position, but there's not.

Mr Howard says the Federal Government has no intention of buying the shares of the New South Wales and Victorian Governments.

"It's for them to decide what to do," he said.

The Federal Member for Eden Monaro Gary Nairn denies he was feeling his seat may be under threat by anger about the issue.

"You always get people who say, on all sorts of issues, if you don't support this I'll vote against you," he said.

"It's part and parcel of being a member of Parliament, it's part and parcel of being a marginal seat holder too.

I've been listening very carefully to the detail of it and the widespread view, not only right across my electorate, but right around Australia."

Independent Member for Gippsland East Craig Ingram has welcomed the decision and is calling on the Victorian Government to follow suit.

"Now the Victorian Government has to join in," he said.

"I think it will put Victoria in a very very difficult position and in my view it would be unacceptable for them not to do the same thing.

"Basically what it will do it puts enormous pressure on New South Wales and I'd like to think that the float for the time being is dead."

abc

[lennie]

ABC Reports

The Victorian Government says it will still spend $600 million on school maintenance, even though it is not getting the money it expected from the Snowy Hydro sale.

Premier Steve Bracks says Victoria only agreed to the sale in the first place because of pressure from New South Wales and the Commonwealth.

He has told Southern Cross Radio that schools will still get their money, although it might take a bit longer.

____________________________________________________

Steve Bracks is committing two political sins here.

(1) On the back flip he's been very quick to throw the blame on someone else.

(2) He put the cart before the horse in spending the money before he'd even got it.

Will Wodonga still get it's Railway Line moved though Mr Bracks?