Residents rally MP to state position on privatisation

KATINA CURTIS

A DOZEN Kiama residents, led by Rob Long, have demanded that Member for Kiama Matt Brown state his position on the Government’s electricity privatisation proposal.

The group gave Mr Brown a letter on Thursday asking whether he would oppose any steps to implement the privatisation proposal before this weekend’s Australian Labor Party State conference and whether he would respect the decision the came from a vote on the proposal at the conference.

Mr Brown has previously said publicly that he supports the privatisation proposal.

Mr Long said a particular concern about the matter was whether rural and regional areas would get the same services once the electricity infrastructure had been sold.

South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris supported the Kiama residents, saying their move was part of a broader delegation from the community to Labor MPs across NSW.

“It’s important that our MPs … understand that there are real concerns about what will happen not only for workers in the field of electricity, but also for consumers of electricity and for the environment,” Mr Rorris said.

He said the electricity industry had been shown to return substantial profits each year and it would be a shame to lose this revenue.

“Why give those returns to private shareholders when they are now being used by the public shareholders? Matt Brown says we need that money to put into urgent services now – well isn’t that just cutting off your nose to spite your face?” he asked.

Kiama resident Barry Spooner said it would be like Kiama Council selling its caravan parks and Blue Haven.

“They bring in millions of dollars each year in revenue. If they sold those (retirement village units) and those caravan parks, they’d have a one-off injection, but they’d lose the revenue,” he said.

Mr Rorris said that, as an ALP member, he would be going to the State conference this weekend and would report back on how Mr Brown voted.