Is NSW Premier Baird trying to hide the Chinese connection in his electricity network privatisation plans?

The Sydney Morning Herald 26 March 2015:

A Chinese government-owned energy company that is a potential buyer of NSW electricity assets, State Grid Corp, was the subject of a "major" state audit last year which uncovered allegations of corruption amounting to more than $1 billion.

As Premier Mike Baird on Wednesday was asked more questions about the company and its dealings with the NSW government it has emerged that State Grid Corp's president, Liu Zhenya, was named as a key focus of the probe.

Mr Baird's office confirmed that a State Grid Corp executive, Shu Yinbiao, was one of those present at a business roundtable addressed by Mr Baird during his trip to China in September, not its president Mr Liu as previously advised……

However, the Wall Street Journal said in June the audit, which also involved another state-owned electricity company, China Southern Power Grid Company, focused on contracts for a west-to-east electricity transmission system.

The newspaper said China's national audit agency alleged that "more than $1 billion was misappropriated in less than four months [during 2013] in the construction and running of portions of a major electricity grid system".

Asked if Mr Baird knew about the revelations before his China visit, his office said it had "no further comment".

Fairfax Media can reveal that State Grid Corp's attendance at a roundtable addressed by Mr Baird was omitted from an official report on his trade trip to China last year.

Mr Baird on Wednesday repeatedly refused to detail meetings held during the trip to China last September, which aimed to drum up interest in NSW infrastructure projects.

The Coalition government's plan to partially lease the electricity "poles and wires" and spend the proceeds on infrastructure is the centrepiece of its re-election campaign…..

Under Mr Baird's reforms to political lobbying, ministers are required to publish details of external meetings.

But on Wednesday Mr Baird said the rules did not apply to trips abroad, saying "there's a different process for international trips, that's well established".

A spokesman for Mr Baird later said the Department of Premier and Cabinet had been advised that details of ministers' meetings on official overseas missions "should not be disclosed through the ministerial diary process as there is appropriate disclosure of such meetings through mission reports".

However the mission report from Mr Baird's China trip does not mention a meeting with State Grid Corp.

Asked later on Wednesday why the meeting was omitted, Mr Baird said he had complied with disclosure obligations for overseas trips.

At the news conference he declined to say who else was at the September roundtable meeting.

"I am not going to go into individual meetings. As Treasurer and Premier I met with hundreds if not thousands [of potential investors]. My job is to encourage investment into NSW," he said…..

Not impressed by Liberal-Nationals plan to privatise NSW electricity networks across the NSW Northern Rivers

Letters to the Editor in The Daily Examiner on 23 March 2015: 

Whole truth 

On March 15, NSW Nationals Leader Troy Grant was quoted in the national media as stating of the Baird Government's electricity privatisation plan that: "Country poles and wires will remain 100 per cent in public hands".

On June 13, 2014, the Member for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, was quoted in The Daily Examiner: "With Essential Energy exempt from the deal it will remain in public hands and retain control of the poles and lines".

Both politicians are not being as truthful as they could be.

Power to businesses and homes on the NSW North Coast does not just magically flow from Essential Energy.

What Grant and Gulaptis are not saying is that an estimated 12,700km of high voltage transmission lines and 94 substations which criss-cross the state are part of the state-owned Transgrid network and these will be offered for sale with a price tag in the billions for the 99-year lease. Transgrid's transmission lines supply electricity to "electricity distributors such as AusGrid, Essential Energy and Endeavour Energy" [www.transgrid.com.au, March 2015].

In other words, the main conveyer of power to regional electricity networks in the Clarence, Richmond, Brunswick and Tweed valleys will be effectively sold-off if National Party candidates standing in the Clarence, Lismore, Ballina and Tweed electorates succeed in winning these seats on March 28.

This will eventually translate into price increases for local business and residential users, because a privatised Transgrid will not absorb the future cost of infrastructure maintenance/replacement and will pass this cost through to Essential Energy in its contract rate [TransGrid's Transmission Prices July 1 2014 to June 30 2015].

Judith M. Melville

Yamba

People to pay

Regarding Brian Haselum's letter (March 18), I believe the proceeds from the privatisation of our electricity is to be spent on new infrastructure.

This will result in a shortfall of the State Government's income by around $1.7 billion per annum.

Whether it is electricity prices that go up or something else, it will be the people of NSW who will have pay for the Government's annual shortfall.

People should keep this in mind when they vote on the 28th.

Trevor West

South Grafton

NSW State Election 2015: Not happy, Mike!

Letter to the Editor in The Northern Star, 24 March 2015:

Poles apart

The NSW Lib/Nat state government wants to privatise the electricity network by leasing the distribution network for 99 years.

Most NSW residents will therefore never again see it in public hands and when the lease expires in 2114 it would probably get renewed for another 99 years meaning it will never return to public ownership.

The state will not benefit financially for another 99 years after blowing the original booty on a stack of hasty re-election promises.

As with all privatisation of the people's assets, staff are sacked, service declines and prices rise, just look to Telstra.

When Telstra was in government hands they were Australia's biggest employer and there were works yards in every town with trucks, tractors and local qualified Telstra linesmen ready to attend promptly to faults and new installations.

Now that is all gone, mostly contractors do the work, employment and training of school leavers has all but stopped, service doesn't exist and prices have risen.

The NSW Lib/Nat government claims we will not be affected on the Far North Coast, however Transgrid which supplies most of our power from the high voltage distribution network will be 100% privatised.

Maybe when the electricity prices go up we can resort to using the methane bubbling out of the ground for heating and cooking once the government covers our land in leaking CSG wells.

GARRY OWERS

Meerschaum Vale

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner, 25 March 2015:

MP loses trust

BEFORE you vote remember that once the electricity network is sold off it's gone for good, and no amount of bleating from our ineffective member Chris Gulaptis is going to get it back or stop the Sydney-based liberals selling off Essential Energy at a latter date.

This is the same member for Clarence who had to clarify with his party who he represented over the closing of the Grafton goal, i.e. his party or the people who elected him.

How can he be trusted to look after his electorate?

How can he be trusted again?

Paul Macdermott

Lawrence

Letter to the Editor in The Northern Star, 25 March 2015:

Poles an asset

Why sell a publicly owned monopoly guaranteeing a $1.7 billion return every year?

Privatising publicly owned utilities like electricity assets and water supplies puts states at risk of being held to ransom, especially if foreign owned (e.g., South Australian electricity assets are Chinese owned). There is significant foreign interest in our electricity assets. How simple to cripple a state by turning off the electricity supply.

The $20 billion from leasing these assets is illusory. In truth the NSW public sector's net financial worth will be substantially reduce adding $1-2 billion annually to the budget deficit, weakening the state's financial position.

It displays the worst features of past privatisations of public assets with the financial loss at the top end of the range of past ventures. 'Asset recycling' won't occur as non-income generating assets - hospitals, schools, roads - will replace an asset generating income.

The claim that 49% of the poles and wires will be leased is very misleading. One hundred per cent of Transgrid and 50.4% of both Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy will be privatised representing about 67% of electricity assets, not the 49% oft quoted by the coalition. Government will lose control over the underlying infrastructure.

Who wants a Premier with only a Plan A or a government that deceives the electorate for political gain?

MEG PICKUP

Ballina

One NSW Mid-North Coast council doing the right thing by the planet

The Coffs Coast Advocate 21 March 2015:

USING 100% renewable energy by 2030 is the boldest of a set of new energy and emissions targets set by Coffs Harbour City Council, which is embarking on a renewed push to save money and help improve the environment.

Other targets include:

* Reducing annual corporate emissions of CO2 gases from 2010 levels by 25% by 2020 and by 50% by 2025.

* Ensuring Council's energy use consists of 25% renewables by 2020 and 50% renewables by 2025.

"These are ambitious targets, but we are confident that as technology continues to improve and we carry on working hard to cut costs and greenhouse gas emissions, we will reach them," Coffs Harbour Mayor, Cr Denise Knight said.

The most recent initiative has been the installation of solar panels at the Botanic Garden, but Council has a long history of seeking energy-efficient solutions.

In 2004, Coffs Harbour became the first council in Australia to introduce energy-efficient street lighting across its entire local government area. In 2009, a landfill gas capture facility - the first of its kind on the Mid North Coast - was installed at the Coffs Coast Resource Recovery Park. This has seen a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions.

Then in 2010, Coffs Harbour City Council installed the largest public rooftop solar power array in NSW on the top of Rigby House which saves $30,000 per annum in electricity costs…..

NSW State Election 2015: former federal minister & current gas industry lobbyist accused of lying about privatisation

Martin Ferguson reinvented himself after leaving parliamentary politics and, became a group executive in natural resources at Kerry Stokes' Seven Group Holdings, a non-executive director of the BG Group an international exploration and LNG production company and, chair of the advisory board at Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), a peak national body representing Australia’s oil and gas exploration and production industry.

This was Martin Ferguson in November 2014:

FORMER federal Labor energy minister Martin Ferguson has urged the party to support Premier Mike Baird’s electricity network privatisation push while also delivering a stinging rebuke to Opposition Leader John Robertson, who he said was stuck in the 1930s.

The comments came as Mr Ferguson compared the proposed long-term lease of 49 per cent of the electricity assets to raise $20 billion for much-needed infrastructure to the reforms of the Hawke and Keating governments in selling off Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank.

In a speech to be delivered at an Infrastructure Partnerships Australia lunch today, Mr Ferguson will call on Mr Robertson — an ardent opponent of the sale who he also compared to a 1930s Labor leader — to pass through the upper house the sale of the networks, should Mr Baird, as expected, win the election next March. [Martin Ferguson, Repowering NSW]

While this is Martin Ferguson today..........

Electrical Trades Union of Australia media release 24 March 2014:

Martin Ferguson caught on a lie with claim his position on privatisation is the same as during his political career.

Former Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has been caught lying to The Australian, after reportedly claiming that the position he held on privatisation was the same as what he had argued for throughout his political career.

Far from being a consistent position, it is a complete backflip from the speech he delivered at the launch of his parliamentary campaign which savaged privatisation, claimed the sale of power companies led to higher prices, and warned that cheap and equal access to services was best delivered by publicly owned companies.

During Mr Ferguson's speech at the launch of his campaign for the Victorian seat of Batman, in October 1995, he told the room of supporters:

“We’ve seen what the privatisation policies of the Liberals have done in this state — the education system in Victoria is reeling from the changes; the sale of the electricity companies will mean higher prices for ordinary consumers…

“Jeff Kennett’s privatisation plans hurt the battlers. And John Howard’s privatisation plans will also hurt the battlers.

“I am convinced that Telstra must remain in public hands… If our regions are to grow and compete they must be able to rely on a publicly-owned telecommunications company who will provide them cheap and equal access to the information super-highway.”

The Electrical Trades Union said Martin Ferguson had no credibility left and was simply parroting the messages of the major corporations he is now paid to represent.

“This was an Energy Minister who — between 2007 and 2013 — presided over the worst period of electricity price rises in Australian history,” ETU national secretary Allen Hicks said.

“According to the Federal Government’s own Australian Energy Regulator, national power prices increased by around 50 to 60 per cent from 2009 — under Mr Ferguson’s watch.

“Here we have one of the worst energy ministers this country has ever seen, blatantly contradicting the position he advocated to get in to parliament, all on behalf of corporate giants in the energy sector that stand to gain out of his new-found passion for privatisation.

“He has performed a backflip on this issue worthy of an Olympic gymnast.

“With Mr Ferguson’s record of failure, he simply has no credibility left when it comes to electricity privatisation or energy prices.”

A copy of Martin Ferguson’s 1995 speech can be found at: http://www.actu.org.au/actu-media/speeches-and-opinion/martin-fergusons-speech-at-launch-of-campaign-for-batman

NSW State Election 2015: No CSG No Coal says Yamba

The Daily Examiner 23 March 2015:

THE people of Yamba have spoken, with more than 87% of households saying yes to a gasfield-free future.

At an anti-CSG declaration at the Yamba River Markets yesterday morning, state election candidates for the seat of Clarence, Trent Gilbert, Janet Cavanagh, Debrah Novak and Bryan Robins, spoke publicly on their stance on the issue amid heavy rain.

Co-ordinator Dave Irving said that the downpour hampered entertainment and plans to make a human sign, it was not enough to keep people from turning out to support a declaration.

The move was the culmination of a year of planning, doorknocking and collating results which will be presented to Clarence Valley Council in the next few weeks.

During the project, volunteers surveyed 1501 households, with one respondent for each household.

Sixty-four respondents said they would welcome the coal seam gas industry, and 116 were not sure.

The remaining 1321, equating to 87.8% of those asked, said they did not support the introduction of the industry to the area.

As well as asking individual households if they wanted their land and roads to be gas-free, the question of whether they wanted their neighbourhood to be coal free was raised.

Just over 85% of respondents said they wanted to be coal free, with 8% not sure.

Eighty-nine people, representing 6.1% of those interviewed said they did not want Yamba to remain coal-free.

Mr Irving said concerns about coal came from a Regional Development Australia proposal to turn Yamba into a coal port.

"We don't want to be alarmist about it, because we have absolutely no idea of the viability of that, but as a proactive measure we decided to enter that question in there," he said.

The announcement comes a week after Iluka presented its own 91% gas-field free declaration to Clarence Valley councillor Sue Hughes, and Mr Irving said the movement was growing.

"I think people have been empowered by CSG movement, because they feel they can get up and have a say," Mr Irving said.

"If there wasn't opposition and it wasn't as broad as it is, it would be knocking on our front door already.

"The CSG movement has proven that we can make a difference, and hopefully people can take that confidence and apply it to other areas, whatever their concerns may be."

NSW State Election 2015: The Nationals must be worried that the Far North Coast might kick over the traces at the ballot box

First it was NSW North Coast Nationals who were sprung trying to increase their chances at the ballot box on Saturday by rather dubious means.

The Northern Star editorial on 24 March 2015:

The Northern Star has been used by the Nationals for electioneering purposes and I'd like to set the record straight for our readers.

There's an attack ad doing the rounds with the line that The Northern Star agrees Labor is full of 'hot air on CSG'.

In the television version of the advertisement, there is even a copy of an article written by our reporter Helen Hawkes. It appears below a headline with the same sort of line in it.

But that headline, quoted out of context from the article beneath, does not convey the true meaning of the story.

It was basically a yarn about Labor's political foes, most notably the Nationals, criticising Labor leader Luke Foley's announcement of a moratorium on CSG in NSW.

In effect the headline summed up that that Nationals and Greens were sceptical of Labor's call for a moratorium.

That view doesn't come with the ringing endorsement of The Northern Star as we have been striving to be fair and impartial in our coverage of the CSG issue.

My own personal view is that Labor's moratorium is like having an each-way bet at the races.

It's neither having a plan to introduce CSG, which the Nationals have been plugging, nor a ban on mining as the Greens want to do.

Moratoriums are only good for fence sitters who can't make up their mind.

Labor has further promised a permanent ban on CSG on the North Coast.

The waters have been muddied sufficiently on CSG with Labor and the Coalition blaming each other for its implementation.

I'd simply urge our readers to make up their own minds and vote accordingly on election day this Saturday.

Then it was the Catholic hierarchy in the Lismore diocese attempting to influence parishioners’ votes as though it was still 1950s Australia.

The Northern Star 24 March 2015:

PARENTS of local Catholic school students have received a State Election guide in school newsletters emailed to them.

It is understood some parents have lodged objections with their schools about the appropriateness of being sent a "form guide".

The guide includes information on where the three major parties stand on "abortion and protection of the unborn", euthanasia, marriage, Catholic schools and religious freedom, and has previously been inserted into Catholic church bulletins.

The guide features a foreword by Bishop of Lismore Geoffrey Jarrett, in which he said: "This is the moment to cast our vote and, for us Christians, it means a vote in accordance with our conscience: that's a conscience tuned to the deepest truths, among other things the dignity of the human person, their right to religious freedom, the preciousness of life, marriage and the family, and the rights of parents to educate their children in a way that respects their religious and moral beliefs".

"Apparently there is a saturation campaign being conducted," said Neville Kelly, a Ballina resident and Labor party member who was among parishioners who objected to what they saw as an infringement of democratic rights.

"As a Catholic, I abhor this disgusting behaviour."

The principal of St Mary's Catholic College in Casino, Aaron Beach, said parents had received election information from the diocese in the past.

"We have had no feedback either way," he said. "I don't have any concerns with putting out anything from the bishop - it is his prerogative to give information."…..