NSW Greens MP John Kaye has introduced a bill to NSW Parliament which would guarantee that the NSW Government could not privatise electricity without the approval of Parliament.

The Greens first put forward the Energy Services Corporations Ownership (Parliamentary Powers) Bill 2008 (the No Mandate No Privatisation Bill) in February 2008 after the NSW Government announced that it had legal advice that it did not need the Parliament's permission to privatise the state's billion dollar electricity industry.

No Mandate

The government does not have a mandate for its privatisation scheme.

No mention of it was made in the lead up to the last state election in 2007, and the move directly contravenes existing Labor Party policy. At the NSW ALP Conference rank and file members of the ALP confirmed this - with members voting against the sale by a massive margin of 7 to 1.

Support the No Mandate No Privatisation Bill and stop the government bypassing parliament and selling off billions of dollars of public assets.

About the Bill

The Greens No Mandate No Privatisation Bill was successfully introduced into Parliament, with the support of the Opposition and minor parties, in February 2008. However, a vote on the Bill was put on hold after the Treasurer Michael Costa announced that some form of legislation would come before Parliament about the sale.

At the time this seemed a significant concession from the government, as it was the first time that the government had agreed that the Parliament would have a vote on the privatisation plan. This concession encouraged some of the members of the NSW upper house to avoid voting on the Greens Bill at that time.

However, in giving this assurance the Treasurer did not give any details of how or when a vote might happen. It is not know, for example, whether the government will wait to introduce legislation until it is already a long way down the track of privatisation. The government has already committed millions of dollars towards the sale, in consultant fees and an expensive advertising campaign.

Click HERE for full news from 26 February and the passage of the Bill so far.

The Greens will be pushing ahead with the No Mandate No Privatisation Bill in May 2008. To view a copy of the Bill click HERE.

Latest News

• 4 May 2008: The Premier announced that he plans to push ahead with privatisation, regardless of the wishes of the community and his own party. His announcement came one day after the state ALP conference voted overwhelmingly against the government's privatisation plan.
  

• 3 May 2008: Massive anti-privatisation rally held outside the ALP Conference.

• For other latest news see the Privatisation News page of this website. 

How you can help:

You can show your support for the Greens bill by:

• Calling the Liberal Party shadow treasury spokesperson, Greg Pearce, on 9230 2428
  
• Calling Rev Gordon Moyes of the Christian Democrats, on 9230 3340
  
• Calling Robert Brown of the Shooters Party, on 9230 3059
  
• Sending this email to all Coalition, Christian Democrat and Shooters Party members of the NSW Upper House
• Sending this email to all Labor members of the NSW Upper House