Several thousand unionists and students rallied outside the office of Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu, on May 10 in protest at a $160 million cut to TAFE education.
Premier Anna Bligh’s unpopular privatisations should mean Labor is headed for a trouncing in the Queensland state election on March 24. But the more voters see of Liberal National Party (LNP) leader Campbell Newman the less they like him.
The NSW government’s power sell-off has descended into farce. The second round of “partial privatisation”, expected to raise $2 billion, has fallen through due to a lack of bidders. The first round sell-off in December had already created controversy, with the midnight resignation of several directors from the state-owned power companies in protest at the deal. An inquiry into the power asset sell-off is still ongoing.
Despite massive public opposition, the Queensland Labor government under Premier Anna Bligh is continuing to push forward with $15 billion worth of public asset sales. The sell-off of Queensland Rail National, the freight arm of QR, valued at $6.5 billion, has begun with shareholder advertisements appearing across the country.
Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon has announced plans to campaign against privatisation in the lead up to next year’s NSW state election in March. Lennon was hosting a “Better Services, Better State” meeting, a product of pressure to revive the campaign against privatisation by the NSW Teachers’ Union.
Deep opposition within the Queensland labour movement to the government’s privatisation program continues to dog the Bligh government.
A union push to overturn the NSW government’s privatisation drive failed to materialise at the Labor state conference in mid-November.
Eighty per cent or more of the Queensland electorate remains solidly opposed to the state government’s privatisation agenda in spite of an expensive publicity campaign to convince them otherwise, and the employment of the former reserve bank boss, Bernie Fraser, on $2500 a day, to pacify the unions.
Anna Bligh was hoping that a combination of time and spin would be enough for Queensland workers to get used to her unpopular decision to privatise $15 billion worth of public assets. How wrong she was.
The 2009 NSW Labor conference is shaping up to be a focal point of anger at the Nathan Rees government. At the Sydney Entertainment centre on the weekend of 15, 16 November, Rees will face defiance both inside and outside the conference.
Unions and community groups are continuing to resist Bligh’s plan to privatise $15 billion worth of public assets. More than 200 unionists including many from the nearby railway workshops rallied outside the Ipswich office of Transport Minister Rachel Nolan in late July.
With Cessnock jail off the privatisation list, union activists including prison guards (PSA), teachers (NSWTF), nurses, AMWU and NTEU are seeking to extend the campaign across the state.
“This was a great day for the Cessnock community—and a good result for all those in the community who do not believe that prisons should be run for profit by big corporations,” said PSA general secretary John Cahill.
Cahill says that the PSA will now target Labor MPs in the western Sydney electorates surrounding the Parklea prison—still up for sale by Corrective Services Minister John Robertson.
“The arguments against a private prison at Cessnock are the same as the arguments against a private prison at Parklea—the justice system should not be run for profit,” said PSA general secretary John Cahill.
On May 31, stalls were held in about 20 electorates across NSW targeting Labor MPs who still support the government privatisation push—of prisons, power services and generators, ferries, lotteries and rail services. The Labor heartland seats of right wing power brokers, Joseph Tripodi and Eddie Obeid, were among those targeted.
These are the same people who backed former treasurer Michel Costa’s 2008 attempt to privatise NSW power generators. Union opposition to this neo-liberal agenda saw both Premier Morris Iemma and Treasurer Michael Costa lose their government positions last year.
Current Premier Nathan Rees and other members of cabinet must ditch their privatisation plans once and for all. Polling shows that Labor faces a hiding in the next election.
Junking their Liberal-esque policies might be a start to turning that around.
Around 800 party and union members rallied outside a meeting of the party’s administrative committee to demand that the committee uphold the NSW party’s position against privatisation.
The Labor government is trying to get the committee to re-interpret the meaning of ALP policy which states “Labor opposes the private contract management of prisons”.
Rather than imposing cuts, the NSW government should be boosting government spending for public sector employment such as green power jobs as well as metro and light rail extension.
By John Morris
A united cross-union campaign against the NSW government’s privatisation fire sale is needed, as prison workers continue their fight against privatisation.
NSW unions are again locked in battle with the state Labor government over privatisation. With the government accelerating its planned sell-off of prisons, members of the Public Service Association (PSA) were set to strike and rally outside NSW Parliament on Tuesday April 2 as Solidarity went to press.
As Solidarity goes to print, the fate of up to 386 ABC Learning child care centres is in doubt. That represents one-tenth of the national child care resources. The centres look after 30,000 children and employ over 4000 people.
In the context of the global financial crisis, governments across the world have abandoned financial conservatism, proposing significant expenditure programs, often funded through debt.
What does it do for the union movement’s credibility when its elected leader joins the government?
ALMOST THE first words uttered by the new premier Nathan Rees were along the lines of “I’ve been briefed by Treasury. It’s worse than I thought. We could lose the AAA credit rating. We’ve been living beyond our means. We’ll have to tighten our belt. Sale of retail electricity will go ahead.”
There is a desperate need to invest in public services infrastructure in NSW. Lack of spending has led to ongoing scandals in the hospital system and the deterioration of public transport.
Why would a Labor government push ahead with a power privatisation plan opposed by 85 per cent of voters, rejected by a massive majority at its own party conference, and needing (but not getting) the votes of the Liberal/National Coalition to get it through parliament?
THE TOPPLING of NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Treasurer Michael Costa, and the defeat of their plans to privatise the power stations, is a real victory against Labor’s agenda of privatisation and economic rationalism. It is also a blow against Kevin Rudd who made it clear that power privatisation fitted with federal Labor’s economic agenda.
WITH MORRIS Iemma’s position as NSW premier looking ever more fragile, a further demonstration against his proposed power sell-off will be held on September 20. There needs to be an effort to mobilise for this in every union, and across Labor, Greens and community networks to ensure it is large enough to make an impact.
Climate Camp, a protest against the coal industry in Newcastle NSW, was a success and an important step forward in continuing to build a movement for real solutions to stop global warming. It brought hundreds of activists together for a week of discussion and protest, and the main protest on Sunday drew 1000 people with the goal of shutting down a coal train line for the day. This direct action was a breath of fresh air, compared to the mainstream environment movement’s focus on individual action and lobbying politicians.
THE LATEST humiliating back-flip by the NSW government over its planned power sell-off indicates two things.
Firstly, NSW Labor is facing a serious crisis. According to the polls, the Liberals are in a position to win the 2011 election. Secondly, the campaign against the sell-off has reached a turning point that requires urgent re-evaluation.
NSW TEACHERS will continue rolling industrial action unless the New South Wales government sits down and negotiates on proposed changes to the school staffing and transfer system.
IN JULY hundreds of people will converge in Newcastle in a week long camp, with the aim of drawing attention to Australia’s contribution to climate change and rejuvenating the wider campaign for climate action.
WORKERS IN Britain woke up with a big shock after council elections on 1 May, as the Tories pushed Labour into third position.
THE CAMPAIGN against electricity privatisation has reached a critical stage in NSW.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Treasurer Michael Costa have displayed an unprecedented level of arrogance in their attempt to push through power privatisation.
AS PART of its privatisation plan, the NSW government wants to sell off the state’s retail electricity arm. But, whatever their claims, the evidence from the recently completed retail privatisation in Queensland shows this will be a disaster for energy workers and the public.
PROFESSOR ROSS Garnaut, establishment economist and China expert, dropped a bombshell in his interim report on climate change, jointly commissioned by state and federal governments.
THOUSANDS OF union members marched last month against the NSW government’s plans to privatise electricity. Despite industry claims otherwise, two-thirds of the state is opposed to the policy.
Kevin Rudd’s first few months have seen important symbolic breaks with Howard’s legacy. The highpoint so far was his apology to the Stolen Generations, reversing Howard’s attempt to hide the racist policies of previous governments.
Iemma and Costa have made clear their determination to push ahead with privatisation despite their crushing defeat at the ALP state conference. But there is no reason why they should get away with this.
Solidarity spoke to Robyn Fortescue, from the Darlington Labor party branch
THE NSW Labor party has been wracked by a bitter dispute over the government’s attempt to privatise the power industry.
Kevin Rudd talked about “opening a window on our democracy to let some fresh air in.” But how fresh was the 2020 summit?
