Updated on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:36AM by stevem

A MAJOR economic analysis of the State Government’s $15 billion asset sale claims the plan has no credibility, could cost millions and is based on poor economic advice and manipulated Treasury figures. The report, by Sydney University Professor Bob Walker and his wife Betty Con-Walker, a former NSW Treasury boss, rubbishes the need for the privatisation and claims it would be fundamentally foolish. It describes the Government’s strategy as a “Magic Pudding” which could somehow reduce debt and build infrastructure with the same money. The report, commissioned by the union movement which is opposed to privatisation, also claims the Government manipulated figures to provide an economic picture that was far worse than in reality.

Click to read more ...

LAST month’s announcement that the federal government would demand a say in planning the future of Australian cities saw Queensland premier Anna Bligh immediately jump in with a suggestion. Ms Bligh applauded prime minister Kevin Rudd’s approach but said her state already had the answers. Lauding her government’s infrastructure plan as an international award winner, Ms Bligh said it could be the model to guide the growth of the “big Australia” Mr Rudd envisaged. There is fat chance of that now. Central to that SEQ infrastructure plan was her government’s $9 billion water strategy which now lies exposed as an exercise in pure folly.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 12:45PM by stevem

A LABOR branch in Premier Anna Bligh’s own electorate has accused her of arrogance over privatisation and declared it no longer has confidence in her. The South Brisbane branch, which earlier this year called for the Premier to be expelled from the party over the issue, said it wanted an election to have a say at the ballot box. It called on all elements of the ALP to “act urgently to restore integrity and real Labor policies into the administration of Queensland”. A motion carried by the left-wing branch cited privatisation, overspending on water infrastructure, price rises in public transport, the waste of money on the Gold Coast motor racing event and the controversial anti-bikie legislation as key areas of failure for the Government.

Click to read more ...

A SUNSHINE Coast MP fears new plans to create a water retailing authority could set the stage for a sell-off of this region’s $2.8 billion resource. Is the state government’s motivation behind the south-east Queensland water reform to prepare the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay’s $2.8 billion resource for sale to a private enterprise. They are the questions being asked by Buderim MP Steve Dickson following the passing of legislation on Thursday to create the new water distribution and retailing authority on the Sunshine Coast - to be operational next year.

Click to read more ...

Voter confidence in Premier Anna Bligh has plummeted to new lows, according to a Sunday Mail poll taken in the past few days. The launch of a $1.9 million campaign last week to promote the Queensland Government’s controversial sale of state assets has done nothing to quell public anger towards her and the Labor Party. The Galaxy Poll for the Sunday Mail, conducted on October 29-30, shows voter satisfaction with Ms Bligh’s performance as premier is in free fall, reaching a new low of 30 per cent only six months after she became Australia’s first female premier to win an election. Ms Bligh’s abysmal approval rating is now even worse than it was immediately after the corruption and cronyism controversy sparked by Tony Fitzgerald’s stinging criticism in July.

Click to read more ...

BRISBANE ratepayers will receive a separate water bill from January, following the formation of a huge council-owned water distribution company. The change is likely to coincide with another hike in water charges, expected to push the average Brisbane household water bill above $600 a year, nearly double what it was five years ago. The company, Queensland Urban Utilities, will handle the distribution and sale of all water to homes and business in Brisbane, Ipswich and towns in the Lockyer Valley.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 07:51AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 10:10AM by stevem

QUEENSLAND’S biggest and most powerful union has said the privatisation debate was finished and its union counterparts were wasting their time protesting against it. Australian Workers Union secretary Bill Ludwig said the planned $15 billion privatisation of state assets was no longer an issue and there was no point protesting or continuing the debate. “The legislation is already through the House. For Christ’s sake, it’s over, get on with it,” Mr Ludwig said. He said he was not even “really opposed” to the sell-off and saw no point in being a party to any of the four days of talks between unions and the former Reserve Bank boss Bernie Fraser who has been employed by the Government on $2500 a day as a facilitator.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Monday, October 12, 2009 at 07:50AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, October 12, 2009 at 07:56AM by stevem

PETER Garrett has put off a decision on whether to approve the Rann government’s $130million weir across the Murray River until next year, possibly until after the March state poll. The federal Environment Minister was scheduled today to make an announcement about the fate of the 2.6km temporary weir near Pomanda Island, 86km southeast of Adelaide and 12km from Wellington. But a spokesman yesterday said Mr Garrett had decided to extend the timeframe for a decision “to consult and seek independent advice from scientific experts about the proposal and ensure the outcomes of studies under way … can properly be taken into account”.

Click to read more ...

One of the world’s largest water companies has been accused of misleading and deceiving South Australians over a contract signed 14 years ago, prompting the Rann Government to launch legal action for damages that could run into tens of millions of dollars. Acting Premier Kevin Foley said the unprecedented legal action by a state government was filed in the SA Supreme Court today against United Water, which is owned by giant French company Veolia. The contract at the centre of the dispute was signed in 1995 by the then Liberal government when it privatised the management of South Australia’s water and wastewater systems. The pricing structure was signed off again by the Liberals during a 2001 review.

Click to read more ...

The rollout of the SEQ water grid pipeline is about to enter its next destructive phase, which will wreak havoc through the quiet hills around Nambour and points north. In the immediate firing line is Keith Paxton’s Australian best-practice passionfruit farm, and families that live on and around Pringle Hill. Keith, whose property attracts international attention, is about to have to watch on as a welt is cut through the middle of his prize crop. It is part of the relentless march northward to Traveston and the illusion of water security from a shallow, alluvial plain dam. He has for comfort the reassuring words of the Northern Network Alliance, a group of companies selected by the state government to benefit from its obscene cash splash. His nightmares are fuelled by the experience of those the pipeline has already passed. They are the ones who hold photographs of rich topsoil being taken from their properties, the ones who have been told it wasn’t stolen, but who have been given no assurances they will get it back.

Click to read more ...